Make a Move
by Skitzylou
Summary: New to the small city at the base of Mount Ebott, college student Lou finds herself getting involved with an interesting group of monsters and their human friend/ambassador; leading to a new life of laughter, love, mystery, and...skeletons? DISCONTINUED
1. Ditched

**Author's Notes:** This story is more-or-less about the meeting and daily life of a Self-Insert OC with everyone's favorite pair of skeletons and the rest of the Undertale monster cast. Any real storyline and plot may eventually develop, but until then I'll do my best to make sure it doesn't just drag along. Also, any text messages or thoughts will be italicized.

 _ **Chapter 1: Ditched**_

The night seemed to drag on forever, the loud murmur of people in the background and the constant crash of pins falling over. Rock n' Bowl is what they called it. Certain parts of the year when the bowling alley in town played loud music with flashing lights and everything was lit up like a night club, only much more kid-friendly. It sounded like maybe Worth It was playing right now, but the only song she heard was the one coming from her iPod earbud speakers; Wake Me Up by Avicii. For the most part she sat alone, absently picking at some curly fries and stirring a Coke whose ice cubes had yet to really start melting, but already had enough beads of moisture on the outside to require a good wipe to get it all off if one grabbed the cup to take a sip. She sighed, pulling out her phone to check the time again, only to blink as it showed she'd missed a text.

 _Hey Lou! Sorry, but it looks like we won't be able to make it! Maybe next time, kay? ;3_

Lou stared at the screen for a good few minutes through her overgrown bangs. She had hair the color of mud or dark chocolate, cut pixie short but in need of a haircut if it was to stay that way. It was already impossible to keep her bangs out of her face and in their usual style of being swept to the right, at least not without a good struggle and constant fixing throughout the day. A deep sigh passed through her lips as she pocketed the phone, contemplating her next move. Did she stay and try bowling by herself, or just cut her losses and go home?

"Hello? ...Um, hello? Human?" A hand reached out and tapped her shoulder, causing the girl to jump and look up, coming face to er...skull, with a very tall skeleton who looked...concerned? It was a little hard to tell without facial muscles. He tried to speak again, but his voice sounded muffled. _Why did he sound...?_

"Huh? Oh-..! Hang on." She removed her earbuds, turning to fully look at the monster standing next to where she sat. He was very tall, much taller than 6 feet at least. Despite being a skeleton, he seemed to be very expressive as he looked at the smaller human with concern. He wore a white button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows and khaki pants. There was a tattered looking red scarf...maybe a cape, around his neck and vibrantly colored bowling shoes, the standard that you'd expect when renting a pair from the desk up front.

"Are you okay, human? You seemed...well lonely, so I thought I'd come over and say hello!" His face lit up in a friendly grin, causing one corner of her mouth to curl a little in a rather pitiful returning smile while resting her chin in the palm of her hand. "Is something wrong, human?" Without waiting for a reply, he took the seat beside hers.

"Uh...yeah, I'm okay." She gave another weak smile, a little better than the first. Normally she didn't talk much around new people...or people in general really, but something about this monster made her feel like she could break that little rule...for now. "I uh...was gonna bowl with some friends but um...I guess they couldn't make it. I was just thinking of going home anyway, not really any fun bowling alone, ya know? I'd just look stupid." Another smile, this one seeming more forced than the last.

This didn't fool the skeleton, nor did it seem to make him want to leave her be like most. In fact he looked... _determined_. "Well that's no good, human! You came to have fun with your friends! And while they may not be able to be here, I believe that you should still be able to bowl!" He stood quickly, a fist going to his chest as he struck a heroic pose that made the smaller human before him jump in surprise. "Hmmm...though it is true that playing alone is no fun..." The hand on his chest moved to his chin, scratching thoughtfully before he seemed to have a grand idea and ducked down to put his face right in front of Lou's, boney hands going to her shoulders as she flinched again. Her cheeks were red and eyes wide, heart pounding in her chest.

"You can join my group! They were just talking about how our teams would be a bit uneven, and you would be perfect to even things up! What do you say?" The skeleton's grin was infectious and wide, deep black eye sockets staring into her deep brown eyes...or at least trying to, the bangs made it hard to tell.

"W-well uh...a-alright I guess. I did already buy a ticket anyway s-so I don't see the harm...are...you sure it's okay?" Lou looked at him, trying very hard to not pull away. She wasn't used to someone being so...close.

"Excellent! I'm sure they won't mind a new friend joining in! The more the merrier! Come along then, human! My friends are right over here, lanes 3 and 4!" He waited just long enough for her to grab her things before taking her free hand and leading her along to his group. Just as she suspected, the group was on the large side.

"Look everyone! I, the Great Papyrus, have made a new friend to help us with our team problem!" Papyrus, as the skeleton appeared to be named, quickly brought the flustered human in front of him to meet his friends, which seemed to consist of a goat woman, a fish woman, a small dinosaur-lizard girl, a flamboyant robot, a human child who she immediately recognized from TV as Frisk, and another skeleton.

This second skeleton was a bit different than the first, more round and stout, not nearly as tall but still big in his own right. He looked stong too, like he could bench press a car...maybe eat one. _Wait, that's rude and probably racist...yeah no, definitely racist. If it seems racist, it most likely is._ Lou immediately erased the thought from her head and blinked at the group. If they were with this Papyrus guy then they couldn't be too bad. He seemed pretty friendly and so far monsters didn't seem all that bad either, despite what some people would have you believe.

Papyrus immediately introduced the whole group to her. The goat woman was Toriel, adoptive mother of the human Frisk, the fish woman was ex-head of the royal guard Undyne with her girlfriend Alphys. To be honest, the robot hardly needed an intoduction. She'd seen him on TV and all over the internet many times, Mettaton. He seemed proud of himself as he was introduced, striking a pose and everything. It was pretty nice to see he was the same on TV as he was in person. The second skeleton, who came up and towered over Lou as he was introduced, was Papyrus' brother Sans.

"hey, kid. nice t'meet'cha." Sans gave her a large grin, holding out his hand. "come on, you gonna shake my hand?"

Lou looked down at the offered appendage, tilting her head curiously. His right hand was extended out to her. Rather than offer her own right hand, which would have been a classic hand shake with palms touching, she took his hand with her left and took hold of the back of his hand. At first he seemed surprised and a bit confused, until she literally started to quickly shake his hand up and down.

His expression was priceless. Partially amused, partially confused, and giving a light chuckle as he tried to keep from laughing at how ridiculous it was.

"What? You said to shake your hand, you never said how." Her expression was completely serious, except for the small smile struggling to break loose and take over her features.

Suddenly, he bust up laughing, holding up his hand to reveal an unused whoopee cushion. "you sir, just dodged one of my best jokes in the best way I've ever seen. congratulations, color me impressed."

Papyrus groaned, rolling his eyes...somehow despite not having actual eyes. Something about his eye sockets just made it seem like that's what he did. "Sans! Why must you always ruin things with your jokes? Come on human, we need to put you in the machine so we can start. Um..." He paused in his steps, as if realizing he'd missed something before turning around. "Human? What's your name anyway? I am so sorry that I, the Great Papyrus, forgot to ask my new friend his name!"

Now, she'd already caught at least two times these two had referred to her by male pronouns. While it wasn't exactly anything new what with her hair, her oversized looking black and white coat with a black t-shirt underneath and a multi-colored scarf, dark bootcut jeans and sneakers; now replaced by bowling shoes similar to everyone else, it still made her huff a little. Of course, she still couldn't seem to do anything but smile as she looked at the worried face of Papyrus. This time though, it was a genuine smile, sweet and soft on her small lips.

"You can call me Lou, Papyrus. And uh...I'm actually a girl, you know." She removed her coat with a small pull and a shrug of her shoulders, hanging it over one of the table chairs.

 **Author's Notes:** Just an fyi, this story will include my own personal version of Sans and Papyrus who happen to be...pretty big. I like the idea of the monsters all being pretty big in their own respects. For anything exact - Sans is 6'10", Papyrus is 7'7", and Lou is 5'4".


	2. Wait, what?

**Chapter 2: _Wait...what?_**

As Lou draped the coat over an empty chair, the two skeletons stared. The black t-shirt she wore underneath was tight enough to hug what little curves she had while remaining comfortable and loose. She'd always been pretty small, making it that much harder to tell her gender when people first met her. Average height, average size, average hair color and eyes. Nothing particularly amazing or interesting. Classic plain Jane, that was her. So...why did they stare?

"You guys really didn't notice?!" Undyne guffawed as she was the first to speak up, speaking just as loud as Papyrus. "I mean it was totally obvious! Just like that one character from that anime you showed me, Alphys! You know, the one in the back in that class?"

"Y-yeah! I-I remember." The small yellow dinosaur blushed and adjusted her glasses, looking up to the much taller blue fish next to her. Their personalities couldn't be more different...but it seemed to work for them. "B-but I can definitly see how they'd make that mistake. B-besides, humans are still new to all of us. R-right, Frisk?" Alphys looked to the human for help.

Frisk nodded, giving a silent thumbs up. Even on TV they often kept to the point while somehow coming off with a voice that was older, wiser, more grown up and mature than most politicians in office.

"Seriously though, darling! How could you not see? Those flush cheek bones, the small waist hidden beneath the folds of her coat, her soft pink lips. Why, this girl is practically screaming with femininity that's just dying to be released!" Mettaton struck a dramatic pose.

Lou decided to cut into the conversation herself before things got out of hand. That, and she wanted Mettaton to stop describing her like she was the main female love interest in some adult novel. "I-it's alright, really. I'm not mad or anything. It happens all the time." She smiled and gave a light wave of her hand, as if brushing away the issue entirely. "We were going to bowl, r-right? Um...which side am I gonna be on?"

"You're with us!" Papyrus bounced right back, hands on his hips as he struck another pose. "Alphys, Undyne, Toriel, and Mettaton are on one team. Then it's Sans, you, Frisk and I on the other!" He grinned wide as he started to input each set of names into the monitor provided. On their side Papyrus was first, followed by Frisk, then Lou, and finally Sans. With Undyne's team, as she insisted it was totally her team, Undyne was first, followed by a reluctant Mettaton, then Toriel, and finally Alphys.

While Mettaton made a comment about being the true star of the team, Papyrus and Undyne took their turns. They made it seem like some kind of intense competion or battle. Papyrus managed to get a gutterball and a spare while Undyne got a strike, breaking a few pins in the process. Each one of them had their own style when they bowled, making it all relatively amusing and fun to watch in general.

Lou couldn't help but smile as she watched each person go as she waited her turn. To think, she'd almost just gone home. Man, she was glad Papyrus came up when he did.

* * *

Sans took a seat across from the new human 'friend' that Papyrus had brought over. He was still a bit embarrassed for mistaking her for a guy, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel suspicious of the girl. Maybe it was just his human paranoia again, but something felt...different about her. Whether it was good or bad remained to be seen. He'd certainly be keeping an eye socket on the kid. Wait...how old was this kid anyway? She was obviously at least a teenager...maybe an adult, though she was kinda short for that. Probably teenager, at least 16 to 18. Humans were hard to figure out in that regard, seeing how they all mostly looked the same and were just so...small.

He looked her over, studying as much as he could without getting caught. Short hair, probably been a while since it'd been cut though with how the part in the front covered some of her face. Everything about her was petite. Small shoulders, small wrists connected to small hands. He bet that his whole hand would probably cover her entire face and then some. Her arms and legs were long, but not freakishly so, pretty proportionate to the rest of her. As he looked back to her hands, he studied her fingers, small but long, very delicate looking. One of those hands reached up, lightly twirling a small lock of hair absently. Humans really did that? The glowing white orbs in his eye sockets remained focused on that one hand.

* * *

Lou had been watching the group silently, chin in her palm with an elbow on the table while the other messed with her hair. Normally she might be drawing, but something about these people made it hard to just ignore them and isolate herself as she usually might. It wasn't until it was almost her turn that she noticed, Sans was staring at her. More specifically, her hands. She flinched in surprise, pulling her hand away and stuffing it in her lap, feeling like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar before dinner. Her cheeks burned, eyes looking away just in time to watch the board change to her name. _Oh thank god._

The human female took this as her chance to escape his gaze, getting up and grabbing her ball, an 8. Yeah, she wasn't the strongest girl in the world but at least it was in the adult range. First was a gutter, the second caused her to slip and fall but managed to hit at least three pins on the end. With a blush and a light laugh she returned to the group, accidentally brushing Sans' sleeve as she walked by. "Oh! S-sorry." She stepped away, a habit she'd gained whenever bumping into anyone.

The skeleton looked down at her and blinked, then gave a friendly smile. Had he not noticed? "heh, don't worry about it, kid. it's not like you hurt me or nothin'."

"O-okay. Still, s-sorry." She ducked out of his way and back to her seat, fiddling with her scarf.

* * *

Papyrus was the next to sit with her, by her side like before. "Are you alright, huma- er...Lou? You had quite a fall back there." He seemed a little worried, but gave her one of his famous friendly smiles. "You did pretty well though! Three isn't half bad for the beginning. I am sure you'll be getting strikes like Undyne and I before you know it! I believe in you!"

The human's head tilted up to look at him, offering the same soft smile from earlier, when she'd told him she wasn't a boy. Her cheeks seemed to get a little red at his words of encouragement, which made him smile as a warm feeling washed over him. It was always nice to make a friend smile. "Yeah, I'm okay. It's like ice skating, falling's half the fun!" With a light giggle she smiled even wider, tilting her head a little to the side.

 _Wowie...that's adorable!_ A tint of orange colored the skeleton's cheeks as she did that. "Oh! You ice skate? Wonderful! We should go do that sometime! Though, we'll have to wait until it snows again. The snow around here has already started melting. Weather sure is different up here on the surface, always changing." He remembered the days in Snowdin underground, when all he needed to do if he felt like a change of weather was visit Hotland or Waterfall. The change here was nice though and watching the seasons change was an interesting experience for him and the others. Something new.

* * *

They didn't get to talk long, it being Papyrus' turn again. "I'll be back in a moment, Lou!" He smiled and high fived Sans as they passed each other, congradulating him on his 5 pins.

Lou went silent as Sans sat down across from her again, trying to make it seem as though she was watching everyone again. Her bangs hid her eyes perfectly, allowing her to side-glance at Sans as he stared at her again. What did he want? _Why does he keep staring at me like that?_

"hey, kid."

"Hm?" She turned to face him, head in her chin like before. Her curled fingers hid her lips from view, but part of her hair had moved just enough to let one eye peek out as she gazed back at the skeleton.

* * *

Sans had kept to his personal promise and kept an eye socket on her. When she'd rushed away to take her turn before he couldn't help but release a light chuckle. Whether it was how she was or just a front, she seemed easily flustered. _Her butt was kinda nice too. Wait...what?_ His head shot up as he realized the thought that had crossed his mind. Why was he even looking at her butt? His cheeks blushed a light blue as he focused on her bowling. She wasn't too bad, crossed her legs a little when she let go of the ball though. Left was to the back and the right was in the front. This however, didn't seem to make for the best footing, causing her to slip and fall on the second go and land right on that rear he'd been gawking at a moment before.

He winced at first, then rose a brow as she simply got up and laughed. Why did she laugh? Absently, he got up and walked to do his turn. He was so lost in thought about his current observations that he hadn't noticed her brush his arm at all. When she apologized, he simply waved it off and gave her a smile. _"O-okay. Still, s-sorry."_ She'd said it again despite him telling her it was okay. Why? Turning his back to her made him uncomfortable, especially when he glanced back to find Papyrus chatting away with her. When had he gone over?

Now he was sitting across from her again, Papyrus having left to quickly take his turn. She seemed to not even acknowledge his presence at first. That, or maybe she was just embarrassed about the hair thing. Sans knew he wasn't too proud of getting caught staring. Now that he had her attention though, he was about to speak when he noticed a small beauty mark just above her lips on the right side. Then, he caught a glimpse of her eyes...well one of them anyway.

Just a simple brown, nothing out of the ordinary there. They weren't blue or green or some fancy odd color like purple, just a plain old brown. But they were big, and looked right into the white of his. The blue returned to his face and he found himself just staring. Deep chocolate brown, that's what he supposed their color might be, but then he wasn't some eye color expert. They looked...a little nervous? Curious definitely, but a little nervousness was definitely in there somewhere. What was she nervous about? Was it him? He hadn't exactly been the warmest guy. Maybe he should lighten up a bit.

"Sans?"

"huh?"

"Did you...want something?" Now she looked confused and a little concerned, not all that nervous.

"uh...yeah, sorry." He smiled, playing it off. "you seem to be getting along pretty well with my bro." A shy smile peeked from behind her fingers where her lips hid.

"Yeah, he's really nice."

"yeah...he's pretty cool." Sans' smile grew. "just be careful what you say around him, he can be a little...sensitive."

The human girl straightened a little, hand dropping to the table as she looked at him. With her eye still uncovered her expressions were as clear as day, and right now she was a little surprised. "Of course! I don't wanna hurt his feelings or anything..." She glanced downwards, shrinking in on herself.

Aw crap, he'd come off too hard. "hey kid, don't worry about it. he recovers pretty quick, just be careful is all, alright?" He offered another smile.

* * *

"O-okay, I will. Promise." She held up her pinky to him, getting a confused stare. "What? It's a pinky swear."

"i know what it is, just didn't know anybody still did those." He chuckled, reaching out and wrapping a boney pinky around hers. Despite being bones, his hands were bigger and thicker than her own, making her hands seem incredibly tiny in comparison. That, and he was unexpectedly warm.

"Yeah yeah, it's for kids, I know. Still, it makes me fell better." Lou blushed a bit, pulling away just in time for Papyrus to return. He plopped down right next to her like before, smiling his big happy smile.

"See? I told you I would be back! The Great Papyrus always keeps his promise to a friend! Nyeh heh heh!" He puffed up his chest proudly. She laughed, smiling at him, but her smile felt a bit forced this time. _Friend. There's that word again._ "By the way, I don't think I've seen you around town before...are you new? Here at Ebott it may not exactly be small but after living underground together so long we know most of the monsters that lived there. Humans are still a new thing, but I'd like to think I would have noticed you around."

Lou gave him another one of her gentle smiles, no longer forced. "Yeah, I'm new to town. I just moved a few days ago. A friend of the family is letting me stay until I can find my own place so I've been looking into a few apartments."

"Wowie! Your parents must really trust you to let you live on your own!"

"Huh? Well...yeah, my mom's kinda been trying to help me get started for a while." She rose a brow and looked at them with a teasing smile. "How old do you guys think I am?"

"Um...16?"

"12."

"SANS!"

"heh, i'm just kidding. maybe 18?"

Lou looked at them with a deadpan stare. "Duuuude!"

"What?"

"what?"

"I'm 20! Almost 21!" She gave a light burst of laughter as they both almost choked on air.

"YOU'RE WHAT?! NOT POSSIBLE!" Papyrus's eyes suddenly bulged...somehow. When did he get eyes?

"nuh uh, kiddo. you gotta be lying. no way you're that old."

"Well how old are you two?" She crossed her arms over her chest.

"About...22?"

"must make me 23." Sans smiled at her expression.

"How are you so-...you know what? I'm not even gonna question it." She waved her thought away, one hand going to her forehead.

Their conversations went much like that for the rest of the night, the three of them all talking together and laughing. Undyne and the others joined too every now and then, up until it was someone's turn to bowl. By the end, nobody even cared who had the most points. They were all too busy laughing and smiling.

 **Author's Note:** omg I am sooo sorry for how long this chapter got. Blame the dialogue. Anyway uh...well up until maybe chapter 4 I don't really have a set idea for what's gonna happen next. If you guys have any ideas or suggestions or even wanna just ask me about the characters in general feel free to stop by my personal on tumblr. Same name as here, skitzylou.


	3. Blue

**Chapter 3: _Blue_**

By the end of the night, Undyne had gotten in trouble about five times for breaking pins, Mettaton had single-handedly started a dance competition that had already gone viral and shut down the internet, and Sans was half asleep in his chair with a bottle of ketchup in his hand. Lou covered her face to hide the blush and hopefully stiffle how much she was laughing. Unknown to her, Sans had heard her fit of laughter over the loud music and woken up, opening an eye to look. Her hand was over her mouth as she tried to breathe.

Sans blinked a moment before sitting up immediately, wide awake. That laugh wasn't normal. He tried hard to not laugh because of just how strange it was. It was some kind of mix between a wheeze and maybe a seal bark? It wasn't until the girl finally gasped in a gulp of air and coughed that he paused. Could she...not breathe when she did that? "hey kid, you okay?" She was breathing normally now, a small laugh here and there.

She turned to look at him, then quickly looked down and hid her face with a hand. "Y-yeah, I'm okay...y-you heard that?" She peeked at him, her hand lifting some of her hair to look at him properly.

"uh...yeah. you sure you're okay?"

"Y-yeah, I was just laughing a little too hard. It happens. Don't worry, I'm okay." She brushed a bit of hair behind her ear and smiled, a hint of a tear at the corner of her eye. "See? I'm all good." The human straightened a little and adjusted her seating before looking at him again. "You guys are a lot of fun to hang out with. Um...thanks for letting me join you."

Sans smiled a little, his expression softening. "no problem, kiddo. you should be thanking my brother though, he's the one who invited ya in the first place."

"I will."

* * *

Lou waved as everyone started heading out. Alphys and Undyne had heard about how she liked anime and immediately insisted on her coming over for movie night sometime. At this point she had just about all of their numbers in her contacts, even Mettaton. He said he wanted to give her some fashion tips and do her make up. _Should I be worried about that?_ She watched everyone get into their cars before turning to Papyrus, who had apparently been right behind her the whole time without her knowledge. "Gah! D-don't sneak up on me like that!" The human jumped, then sighed and put a hand on her chest, looking up to him. "Um...I had a great time tonight. Thanks for that."

"Not at all, huma- er..Lou! We had fun as well. If you ever want to hang out again give us a call!" He smiled, holding up his phone which now had her as a contact in it.

"Well, as long as I'm not in class I'm usually pretty free. See ya later." She waved, then started walking towards the street. She left the parking lot and turned to walk down the street, but didn't get much farther when she heard footsteps getting closer. To her surprise, it was Papyrus.

"Human! What are you doing? Where is your car?" He stopped in front of her, seeming confused.

"Um...I don't have one?"

"WHAT?!" His eyes buldged again.

"I can't drive yet so...I don't have one."

"Well you can't just walk! It's late and dangerous for you to walk alone...please, let us give you a ride."

"Uh...I don't think that's a good idea. Besides, I walk all the time. I'll be fine." She waved him off.

"Nonsense! We'll give you a ride! It's no problem at all! Now where do you live?"

"On a small farm outside of town."

"Whaaat?!" His eyes buldged again. "And you were going to walk there?!"

"Um...yeah?" She rubbed her neck, looking away. "I don't wanna make you guys drive that far out. I'll just walk or get a room somewhere. It's fine. See you later, Papyrus." She tried to turn and leave, not wanting to inconvenience him anymore than she already had. However, it seemed the skeleton had other plans.

"Impossible! I, the Great Papyrus, shall not allow a friend to walk all the way home in the dark! I appreciate your concern but I simply cannot allow you to do that!" Without waiting for an answer, he hooked an arm around her small waist and easily lifted the much smaller human under his arm. She made a rather undignified squeak before turning bright red and blinking. "We will give you a ride home!"

"B-but Papyrus! Its really far from here! Y-you can't just drive out there this late!"

"All the more reason for you to not walk! Nyeh heh heh!" He'd already turned around, heading back to where his brother was watching in amusement.

"Th-then um...I guess drop me off at a hotel or something?"

"Well I don't want to leave you alone in a strange place either...Oh! I know! You can spend the night with us!"

"What?!"

"what?" Sans' left eye turned a little blue as he stared at the two. Papyrus had quickly managed to reach his brother in a few easy strides. Ah, the benefits of being a tall.

Papyrus on the other hand, seemed to be grinning proudly at his idea, the kind of smile that said he wouldn't be taking no for an answer anytime soon. "Lou will spend the night with us at our house! Then, in the morning we can take her home. Okay?" He smiled at Sans, who reluctantly sighed and agreed. Lou however, was looking at them with the biggest 'wtf' face she could possibly manage.

"Do...do I get a say in this?"

"kid, you're better off going along with it." Sans looked at her. While being carried by Papyrus, she was actually eye-level with him. "relax, you'll be just fine. we won't hurt ya or anything."

"Of course not! Why would you even suggest such a thing, Sans? She is our friend!" He carefully set her down in the passenger seat of a bright red sports car, attempting to buckle her in before she simply did it herself. A skeleton with a red sports car...well it wasn't the strangest thing she'd ever heard of so she'd just go with it. Sans sat right behind her in the back while Papyrus took the drivers seat.

"Alright, alright. You guys win, I'll spend the night. But just this once!" She leaned back in the seat. It was surprisingly soft and comfy. Papyrus certainly seemed happy once she agreed. What was it about this skeleton that made her want to see him smiling so much? Everytime he smiled it made her feel all warm inside. _I must be going crazy. I'm about to spend the night with a pair of skeletons I only just met. If mom ever heard about this I'd be so dead._ She chuckled at the thought.

* * *

Lou couldn't remember the ride over, only that they'd gotten to the skeleton brothers house and Papyrus was tapping her shoulder. Had she fallen asleep? Must have. Getting out of the car she grabbed her bag, it was really a backpack but she often used it as her purse in place of an actual one, then followed them up the steps to the door. She was so tired, she hadn't really bothered to pay much attention to the layout of the house, just that it was at least two stories and...wait was that a pirate flag? The two brothers headed in before her while she stared at the flag hanging there. She couldn't help but smile a little, finding the bit of skeleton charm rather adorable.

"SANS!" Her attention was pulled back to reality as she heard the taller skeleton yell. Peeking through the doorway inside, she saw Papyrus practically fuming while pointing to a sock on the floor. "How many times must I tell you to put this away in your room?! And we even have a guest over too!"

"heh, sorry bro."

"If you're sorry then clean it up!"

"ok bro."

"Sans! That's not cleaning it up! You're just going to the couch! ...Sans get up you lazy bones!"

"can't. i think all that bowling really _**knocked me out**_."

"Sans!"

"what? am i **_striking_** a chord here, bro?"

"Oh my god Sans! **Spare** me the jokes just for once!" He paused, realizing a little too late about his words. Lou and Sans were both already snickering. "I...I have no words..." He turned, heading up the stairs.

"oh come on, you're not gonna _**split**_ on us are you?" Sans managed one last pun between bouts of snickering and laughter.

"Oh. My. God! I'm going to get the guest bed ready!" Lou could see even from down there that his face was bright orange. _Huh, so Papyrus blushed orange and Sans was blue._ _Noted._

With Sans taking up most of the couch, she took a seat on the floor.

* * *

Sans gave the girl a look as she sat on the floor. What, was there something wrong with the couch? He gave it a quick look before realizing it was because he'd sprawled himself over it like a giant cat. It wasn't that she didn't want to sit down, she couldn't. Not without sitting on him or moving his legs or something. _oh..._ He looked back at her, then got an idea. An evil idea. Reaching down, he grabbed the back of her jacket and shirt, then pulled up. Using that as leverage, he lifted her up off the ground before depositing her on his stomach. As expected, she squeaked and seemed surprised, only becoming more confused when she found that his stomach area wan't just some empty space of bone but soft and plush, like actual human skin.

"W-what the heck?" Her cheeks were bright red, frozen in place as she was perched on his belly in a criss-cross-applesauce position with her hands bracing herself on the sides. Giving him a look with wide eyes, easily seen under her bangs from that angle, she then looked down, carefully feeling the substance beneath her.

* * *

Lou was more than surprised as she was hefted up again and dropped onto...wait was this soft? How was this soft? _Isn't he a skeleton? Ohmygod it's so soft...what is this?_ She looked down at the...belly? she was currently sitting on. Her hands ran over the white fabric of his shirt, then lightly poked. Her finger felt a little resistance, but sunk in a bit before she pulled away. What was this? Did he have a pillow under his shirt all the time? It would explain why his shirt seemed to pudge out like there was something underneath all the time. She poked it again, hearing Sans chuckle as he simply watched her experiment with child like curiosity.

After a few more minutes of rubbing and poking, she took a risk and lightly pulled up the bottom of his shirt. She felt him flinch in surprise a bit, making her wobble, but then froze in place as she just looked at the mass of blue underneath. She wasn't sure how, but there seemed to be a large concentration of blue...something, that acted like some kind of belly at the skeleton's waist. While she wasn't about to look herself, she could tell from underneath her that it connected all the way up to his lower ribs at least. Cautiously, she reached out and gently poked it. Sure enough, her finger met the same resistance she might feel when poking a pillow or the tummy of any regular human. She glanced back at Sans. He seemed...nervous, maybe a bit wary? His eye was glowing again. Then, she looked back at the blue tummy. Like she'd done on the shirt earlier, she gently ran her hand over it, finding it was very soft and warm but somehow left a lingering cool sensation on her hand once she pulled away. That was enough.

With a nervous cough she awkwardly got down and took a few steps back, giving the skeleton his space. "S-sorry..." She grabbed her bag, quickly heading up the stairs to check on Papyrus, leaving Sans on the couch with his shirt still slightly lifted up and a bright blue glow covering his face.


	4. Embrace It

**Chapter 4:** ** _Embrace It_**

Lou paused as she got to the top of the stairs. There were three doors on the wall she was facing, then another to her left. The one to the left seemed to lead to a bathroom. _Good to know._ The first door had a keep out sign and a sign that said 'NO BOYS ALLOWED! NO GIRLS ALLOWED! ONLY PAPYRUS!' _Huh, must be Papyrus' room._ There was a room in the very middle, then another at the end. The one in the middle was the only door open with a light on, so she checked there. Sure enough, Papyrus was happily humming away while putting some fresh sheets on the bed. She knocked before entering. "H-hey, uh...need any help?"

"Oh! Hey Lou! No, I'm just fine. Just finished actually." He smiled. "But that's very kind of you to ask, thank you." He stepped aside and motioned for her to come in, smiling nervously as she looked around. The room was pretty plain, as expected of a guest bed room. There was a framed portrait of a bone on the wall, causing her to smile and giggle a little. More skeleton charm.

 _Cute._ She looked at the bed. The sheets were pretty simple, pale blue blanket with faded orange pillows. _Strangely fitting._ She thought to herself, remembering Sans' blue ecto-tummy thing and Papyrus' orange blushing. _Does he have one too?_ Lou looked up at the taller skeleton as she wondered this, then realized he was waiting for some kind of response. _Oh._ "Thanks, Papyrus. It's very nice." She smiled warmly at him. Apparently that was exactly what he'd been searching for. His eyes widened and he got another orange blush, hands going to his cheeks.

"Wowie! Really?"

"Haha, yeah. It's nice." It was a bit bigger than her room back at the farm actually, but she wasn't about to say that out loud. "Thanks for letting me stay over...you really didn't have to do that ya know." She sat on the bed, brushing her hair away from her face. He took a seat next to her.

"I know...but that's what friends do for each other."

"A-about that...you keep calling me your friend but...I only just met you today." Her eyes glanced at the floor. "You hardly know me...I was just some girl you decided to talk to at a bowling alley. How do you know I wasn't lying about being alone? What if I'd been someone who hated monsters and tried to hurt you or your friends? How do you know I didn't just say all this stuff to get you to trust me?"

* * *

Papyrus paused, his expression darkening a little as he watched her face. With her head down like that he couldn't read her expression very well. "I...I didn't...I still don't actually." He glanced away for a moment. "But...at the same time I don't think you're a bad person. I mean, you've been pretty nice so far and I get the feeling that you're telling the truth about everything. Sure I haven't known you long but...I believe you nonetheless. You were a bit quiet at first, but I think you really did have a good time at the bowling alley and...I feel like you're my friend. If...you don't feel the same though...I understand."

As he glanced at the human next to him, he saw that her head had shot straight up, sitting as straight as she could but still looking so small and tiny next to him. There were tears in her eyes as she looked at him. He'd thought that those big brown eyes of hers couldn't possibly get any bigger, but as she looked at him they were wider than any time he'd managed to see them before. "Papyrus I..." Her eyes squinted a little as her lips formed a wobbly frown. Before he could say anything she moved forward, wrapping those small arms around his chest as she began to cry. "I'm so sorry...I-I didn't mean it like that..." Her words were garbled by quiet sobs as she gripped his shirt from the back.

He was still a little stunned, but returned the hug and pulled her close beside him. One hand went to her head to gently pet at her hair while the other kept a gentle but firm hold on her spine.

* * *

"I didn't m-mean it like that...I'm sorry...I'm so so sorry...I just..." She cried into his shirt, feeling like a complete idiot as he held her close and tried to comfort her. She should have been comforting him right now, not the other way around. _Dammit, you let your head get to you again. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!_ Once again, that insecure voice in her head had yelled at her, screamed that they were just pitying her, and she'd listened. Now it was yelling at her for being such an idiot. _You should've kept your big mouth shut! Stupid! Idiot! Look what you did now!_ The crying only got worse.

"It's okay." Those two words cut through the darkness in her head. "It's okay." Her breathing slowed. "It's okay." A gentle hand brushed over her hair and her sobs calmed, the hiccups died down. She pulled away a little to look up, seeing that same gentle smile on his face. Her hair was still in her face, but parted just enough to let her left eye be seen, wet streaks staining her cheeks. His boney hand was still on her head as he brought up his other hand to wipe away some of the tears that still lingered. He didn't say anything, just smiled.

"I..." She glanced away for a moment. "I do want to be your friend...a-and I don't hate monsters! I just...don't understand why you would wanna be friends with someone you just met like that so I...I...I'm sorry...I shouldn't have said anything."

Papyrus took her head into his hands and forced her to look at him. "Don't be sorry. It's okay to feel unsure about things and I'm sorry if I made you feel that way." She was about to comment, but he kept going. "You're very kind, and even if you hadn't been alone tonight I would still want to be your friend. I think it's cute when you smile and don't think anyone's looking, I like how you laugh and I am glad that you told me how you felt." He smiled at her.

"So...can we still be friends?"

"Of course we can still be friends! The Great Papyrus would never stop being your friend over something as silly as that!" He picked her up and pulled her into his arms, getting her to laugh and hold tight around his neck.

* * *

Sans stood with his back to the wall, standing right next to the open doorway as he listened to the conversation going on inside. He had mixed feelings about it all. What she said struck a chord, almost having confirmed his suspicions. His eye had glowed blue and he almost barged into the room, but then she'd started to cry, and he paused. He peeked into the room, being careful to not be noticed by either of them. Those tears certainly looked real enough. He pulled himself away and leaned against the wall, sighing. What was he doing? This kid hadn't done anything wrong. _Yet._ No, she probably never would do anything. This wasn't the underground anymore, he didn't need to worry. Frisk had promised no more resets. This kid promised to not hurt Papyrus, heck she even did a lame pinky swear. "heh...kid sure is weird." He glanced back at the door.

Maybe, at least until she deserved it, he could cut the girl some slack. He walked through just in time to see them hugging and giggling. "did i miss somethin'?"

* * *

"Sans! The human told me they weren't sure why I kept calling them our friend, then she started crying, but now everything's better and we're all friends again!" Papyrus was holding her like she was some kind of new doll or a puppy that he took home and was about to ask his parents if he could keep it. Lou didn't mind too much, but it was making her shirt ride up a little and expose her tummy.

"P-Papyruuuus! We never stopped being friends!" She looked up at him, pouting. Of course this only made things worse as he hugged her tighter. "Ack!"

"just **_embrace_** the fact you're our friend now, kid. he'll be un- ** _bear_** -able otherwise."

"Sans! Was...was that another pun?!" Papyrus looked at him with a disappointed frown.

"What's wrong? I thought it was pretty **_punny_**." Lou bit the inside of her lips to stop her smile. She failed.

"Oh not you too!"

* * *

Lou blinked her eyes groggily as she got up the next morning, staring at an unfamiliar white ceiling. _Huh?_ She tried to sit up, but something was holding her down. As she looked at her current surroundings, everything slowly came back. _Oh right, I'm at Sans and Pap's house...Paps...I wonder if he'd let me call him that._ To her left was Papyrus, passed out with an arm drapped over her chest. Then to her right, was Sans, arm also drapped over her chest, but also a bit more sprawled out with his other arm hanging off the bed as he quietly snored. The sight made her blush, but also brought a smile to her face.

Now she remembered. They never left that room. Everyone was so tired from bowling and had too much fun joking and laughing that they all forgot the time. It was probably at least 4 AM by the time they actually passed out on the bed. Now it was morning, and it seemed like she was the first to wake up. It was a bit odd, seeing how she wasn't exactly an early riser if she didn't have to be. What time it was she couldn't say, but it was Sunday so nobody would have work until tomorrow. Lou looked at the two skeletons next to her one more time, smiling at their sleeping faces. She knew they'd have to get up eventually and she'd have to go home, but until then she wanted to be a little selfish, keeping quiet and letting them sleep. _I don't wanna go back. I wish I could stay._

 **Author's Notes:** Whelp, looks like I lied. Seems like chapter 5 or 6 will be where my main planning will come to an end...maybe? I don't seem to be good at this whole planning thing. After that, I'll have to brainstorm a few more ideas to keep this going in some kind of logical order. I'm still taking suggestions for little scenaios you guys might like to see happen with these guys. And it doesn't have to be limited to just Sans and Papyrus! Give me scenarios with Undyne and Alphys, Mettaton, Toriel and Frisk, Flowey, Asgore, hell even Jerry! Give me whatever you got! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a great day!


	5. Nice

**Chapter 5:** ** _Nice_**

Lou wasn't entirely sure what to do. On one hand, she should probably get up and get ready for the day before they woke up, not wanting to get in the way if they had some kind of routine. However, on the other hand, it was suuuuper comfy and warm and she really didn't want to get up at all. If she could, she probably would have stayed there forever. Here, she was happy. These guys had been nothing but nice to her since last night and even let her stay the night in their guest room. _Maybe I should try making them breakfast? I wonder if any of them drink coffee...Paps actually probably shouldn't have caffine oh god that sounds like it would be both hillarious and terrifying all at the same time. What do skeletons even eat for breakfast? Sans was drinking ketchup, and Paps did try some of my curly fries...normal food should be fine. Okay then uh...what would they even like? Do they like eggs? That's pretty simple and usually an all-around good idea, that could work. Um...unless they like cereal or something else better? I'd still need to figure out how to get outta bed first without waking any of them up._

Just as she was thinking all of these things, Papyrus shifted in his sleep. She immediately froze, mind going blank. While Sans just had an arm draped over her, she quickly realized that Pap's other arm was under her neck. The realization only came after those same arms pulled her closer, feeling his skull _probably his mouth and nose area?_ press against her hair and nuzzle into it. She was too nervous and scared to look, but the breathing and lack of further movement made her think he was still asleep. _Oh shit, I'm being used as a freaking body pillow by a very tall skeleton while he's sleeping and holy crap he's pretty warm andkindacuteandohmigawdwhatamIthinkingrightnowaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAA!_ Her face was bright red, mind suffering a critical meltdown as she just stared up at the ceiling in a desperate attempt to somehow relax. The room was uncomfortably quiet. _Wait...quiet? But Sans was snoring just a...oh no._ She glanced to the side, finding a pair of white orbs inside of black sockets looking at her with a very large grin underneath.

* * *

Sans hadn't been awake long, but a quick look to his left clued him in on the details. They must have fallen asleep. His arm was on the kid's chest and Paps seemed to be slightly curled around them. _heh, that's kinda cute._ The human's breathing told him she wasn't asleep anymore either, but they didn't seem to be moving, just staring at the ceiling. He was about to say something when Papyrus moved. Normally he was the first up in the morning anyway so he wasn't surprised...until he didn't wake up. Instead, his brother pulled the human closer, like they where his new teddy bear, and resumed sleeping.

That wasn't even the best part. The look on the human's face was what really put the icing on the cake. Their face was so red he would have sworn it was about to explode or burst into flames. In that movement, some of the hair that covered their eyes had slipped off to the side, revealing wide eyes. A bit panicked, nervous, and very very very flustered. Oh to be able to see what was going on in her head, now that he'd pay to find out. Carefully and silently, he rolled onto his side to look at them, a big, stupid and very lazy grin grew on his face. It was so big that it just barely touched his eye sockets. Finally she turned her gaze to him, not daring to actually move her head incase it woke the sleepy skele beside her.

"heh, mornin'."

* * *

If she wasn't red before, she was practically steaming now. The other brother was awake and looking at her with the biggest, cockiest grin she'd ever seen. Sure he seemed to almost always have a smile on his face, but this one seemed particularly special and reserved just for moments like this. _Oh shit._ She felt like she was going to have a bad time. All she could do was stare for what felt like an hour.

"M-morning..." Her voice cracked a little, whispering to keep as quiet as possible. Papyrus shifted a little next to her, making her stiffen up and freeze again until he seemed to settle down. That only seemed to make Sans smile even more, if that were possible. Much more and she would swear that grin would encompass his entire shit-eating face.

"sleep well?" She carefully nodded. "that's good. comfy?" His eyes looked at her lazily, thoroughly enjoying himself right now with her predicament. She just glared at him, trying so hard to not tell him to just go screw himself. Huffing, she glanced away and nodded again. To be completely honest, she was actually really comfortable despite the taller skeleton clinging to her. Embarrassed and internally screaming, but comfy.

* * *

This threw him off completely. _she's actually comfy like that? she's being cuddled against her will by a monster and this kid really isn't bothered by that?_ He stared for a moment, grin faltering. Before she could look at him again he brought it back. "heh, you're really kind of a freak, aren't you?" The reaction he got...was unexpected. At first it was normal, more blushing and wide eyes, then all of that dropped and she almost looked...depressed. _oh shit, i shouldn't have said that._

Just as Sans was about to apologize, she turned her head and stuck a small pink tongue out at him. His cheeks turned a little blue as he just stared again. Her eyes were shut tight, nose scrunched up and the most adorable little tongue poking out between her lips as she held that face. "Nyeeeeh." It was so cute he didn't even care that she was basically telling him 'screw you, so what?'

He then smiled, getting out of the bed and stretching his nonexistent muscles. "guess i'll go make some coffee then. you just relax and sit tight, okay kid?" Then, he just left the room and moved to the stairs, covering his mouth to keep from laughing. _get dunked on._

* * *

Lou hissed out a breath before looking back at the ceiling. Great, now she was stuck with no way of getting out unless Sans decided to come back and help her, or Papyrus woke up. She sighed, bringing up her hand to rest it on her stomach, only to find his hand already there. At first she paused, unsure of what to do, then sighed. _Oh fuck it._ She rested her palm on his boney hand and closed her eyes. _This is...nice._ As she lay there, her thumb absently ran over the smooth bones of his fingers. _I really don't wanna go home._ She opened her eyes, turning her head to glance at Papyrus...just as his eyes started opening. _Shit._

* * *

His eyes opened slowly, blinking a few times as he tried to register where he was and what exactly he was holding. It was soft and warm. It smelled pretty nice too. He closed his eyes for a moment, nestling his face into the brown fur closest to it. Wait...fur? No, that wasn't quite right. It was a little long to be fur and this didn't smell like an animal. Now it was all coming back to him. _That's right, I went bowling with my friends and we met a human with brown hair. She was very nice, but a little shy. Good thing we didn't let her walk all the way home, that would have-..._

Papyrus' eyes shot open and stared at the brown 'fur' he'd been nuzzling, then immediately pulled away to see his arms wrapped around a blushing human girl who was looking at him with the widest eyes he'd ever seen. "N-NYEH!" He let go and sat right up, scrambling back until his back was to the wall. "H-human?! What are you doing in my...bed...?" He looked around. _This isn't my room._ His eyes widened in recognition before his whole face became a bright orange. He'd fallen asleep with the human and Sans in the guest bed!

"Oh human I am so sorry! The Great Papyrus did not mean to fall asleep, much less do...n-nyeh!" He covered his face with his hands, becoming even more flustered. Just how long had he been holding her like that?

"N-no! It's okay! I...I didn't mind...t-too much..." She sat up in front of him, letting him have his space before gently reaching out to touch his arm. Her touch was kind and gentle as she ran her thumb over his humerus, using the other hand to remove his hands from his face, offering a gentle smile. "Really, it's okay. Besides, you were asleep, there's not much you can do about that, right?"

His blush died down a little bit, but remained ever present on his face as he calmed down just a little. "I-if you say so, human. I'm still ashamed to have done something so embarrasing but...okay." He smiled back. This seemed to appease her and she sat up, letting go of his hands and arms. "Did...did you at least sleep well?"

"Uh huh. Actually...I can't remember the last time I slept that well." Lou rubbed the back of her neck, tilting her head in a way that seemed she was shyly glancing to the side. "Th-that probably seems pretty weird seeing how um...that just happened and I was in bed with a skeleton which might normally freak a person out but...I actually slept pretty good. It was nice."

Now he was blushing again. "Really? W-wowie! Maybe we should have you over again sometime!" Now her face was red again. Had he said something wrong?

"M-m-maybe!" The girl laughed nervously. "Do uh...would it be okay if uh...I borrowed your shower?"

"Of course, the bathroom is just down the hall, next to my room."

"Okay thank you, bye!" Before he was completely finished she was out the door and down the hall, grabbing her bag and bringing it along with her.

"Huh. I should probably get started on breakfast and have a talk with Sans. I can't believe he didn't tell me I fell asleep like that!" He got up, making his way down the stairs to have that little chat with his brother and get breakfast started for everyone.

* * *

Lou was so glad she'd brought some spare clothes with her. Back home it usually rained a lot this time of year, so she had a habit of bringing spare clothes incase she got wet, which always seemed to happen when it rained. "Well, I may not have gotten wet, but I'm still glad I brought these." Her coat was the same, but now she wore a dark gray and white striped long sleeve shirt with a different pair of dark jeans. She was surprised to find they had shampoo and conditioner, but after remembering some of their friends had hair or fur she just smiled, finding it cute how considerate they were. Being unable to brush her teeth was a bit embarrassing, but she made due by borrowing a bit of mouth wash. _Why do skeletons need mouth wash? ...Oh nevermind._ The human laughed to herself before heading out of the bathroom and down the steps.

"Sans! Why didn't you tell me I fell asleep with the human?!"

"sorry bro, i fell asleep too. guess i was just **_bone_** tired."

"Ugh! Saaaans! You use that one all the time! But seriously, it was really embarrassing!" Lou walked in just in time to find Sans and Paps at it again, this time while the taller skeleton stirred a large pot of...was that spaghetti?

"Good morning, guys. Thanks again for letting me use your shower." She walked in, pretending she hadn't heard a thing. Sans paused and looked at her, holding a mug of what she assumed to be the coffee he mentioned. "What?"

"...nothin'." He continued to stare at her. Did it have something to do with her hair? It was still pretty damp and she didn't have a comb so she'd just used her fingers instead.

Papyrus turned around with a big grin on his face as usual. "Lou! No problem at a-...did you do something different?" He paused, coming over to inspect her. "Something looks different about you..."

She flinched back as he put his face so close to hers again. "Um...w-well I did just get out of the shower. My hair is still a bit wet?"

"Hmm...that might be it." He straightened, smiling and going back to his pot. "Breakfast spaghetti will be done in a minute! Please, take a seat."

"Thanks. Never had spaghetti for breakfast before." She sat in the empty seat next to Sans, smiling happily. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember the last time she smiled so much either. It felt pretty good.

"hey, so you said you were looking for an apartment, right? got an area in mind?" Lou turned to look as Sans spoke to her.

"Um...well I've tried looking around walking distance of the college campus, but it's hard to find a place I can actually afford. I tried the dorms but they're all full this semester so unless somebody drops out I'm more or less royally screwed."

"what about your friends? the ones who ditched you?"

Lou shrugged, making circles on the table with a finger. "Tried that too. There was one friend that I almost stayed with, but when I found out they were racist toward monsters I dumped them from my life entirely. Like seriously, I just spent the night here with you two and I'm just fine." She motioned to herself. "I don't get the problem everybody has. You talk like people, act like people. Way I see it, you're just people that look a little different. So what?" Again, she shrugged. "Eh, I'd rather room with a monster than that racist cactus anyway."

"cactus?" Sans rose a browbone, smirking.

"Yep. Exact words when I found out he was racist: I've met a lot of pricks in my life, but you sir, are a cactus! After that I changed his contact name to cactus and haven't talked to him since." She shrugged, then smiled as she heard the snickering start. When she turned to look, Sans was struggling to hold in his laughter.

"pfft...cactus...ohmygod kid, i don't think i've ever heard that one! did you really say that?"

"Yep. Guy started yelling about monsters being dangerous and that I should believe in all that bogeyman crap from when I was a kid. I just left and went home after that, didn't bother looking back." She glanced up at him to see his white orbs on her again. "Hey, don't give me that look. I'm all good. Guy was a jerk."

"yeah, but it still musta been ha-"

"Who's ready for the Great Papyrus' special spaghetti?" Papyrus popped in just in time, big smile on his face as he placed a steaming plate in front of each of them. The sauce looked a little burnt and the noodles slightly undercooked, but otherwise it seemed edible enough.

Lou just smiled and picked up her fork. "Haha, it looks great, Pap." She twirled a little bit around the end of her fork, lifting it up before pausing, looking at a slightly surprised Papyrus. "I-is it okay if I call you that? I...thought of it earlier but...wasn't sure if it would be okay. I...guess it kinda just slipped out..heh." The skeleton looked at her for a few moments before grinning.

"Of course you can, human! I would love for you to call me that! Besides, Sans calls me that all the time anyway." He stood proudly, as if being given the nickname was some new right of passage in friendship. Lou just laughed, eating her spaghetti. It wasn't amazing, but she was right about it being edible. Actually, she was kinda enjoying the burnt sauce.

* * *

"Normally I'm not a big fan of marinara sauce, but this is pretty good." Sans stared at her again, a look of astonishment. Was this kid serious? She was actually eating Papyrus' spaghetti like it was halfway normal.

"Wowie! You really think so?" Papyrus sure seemed thrilled, hands going to his cheeks and everything.

"Yeah. Noodles are a bit chewy, but that's pretty good too. Makes 'em different, not the same." Sans stared a little longer, then just huffed before turning to eat his too. Well, right after he doused it in ketchup.

"Sans!"

* * *

Lou stood by the door, checking her bag to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. As much as she had fun staying with the two brothers, she had to go back. _I can't stay with them forever, it's their house. Heck, spending the night was already a stretch._ She slung the bag over her shoulder, straightening up to wait for Papyrus. He said he needed to check something with Sans before they left. She wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but she didn't mind waiting. As she did, her mind wandered and she stared at the living room. The place was roomy but small, there wasn't a lot but it felt...warm. Like a home. Love was what she mostly felt here, lots and lots of love. It was strange, but she could just feel it when she looked at the two brothers interacting with each other. They were very close and cared about one another a lot. They cared about others. She smiled. _I'm really glad Papyrus came up to me. I'm glad I met these guys._ It kinda sucked she wouldn't be able to see them everyday.

Papyrus walked up to her, fiddling with his hands as Sans followed close beside him. Their nervous demeanor made her smile falter. Was something wrong? "H-human...we uh...I was wondering..."

"we were both wonderin', bro." Sans looked up at him, offering a comforting smile before nodding for him to continue.

"Well...you know how you still need a place to live that's closer to school?"

"Um...yeeeah?" What was this all about?

"Um...well...we have a spare guest room and...we know that we haven't known you long but it was a lot of fun having you over and we were thinking...maybe you could stay here?"

". . .What?"

 **Author's Note:** Ta-daa! Alright, so school has started up for me so sadly I won't be able to post a chapter every day as I've been doing so far. Instead, my goal is at least 1-2 a week. Now again, I can't promise this to be consistent but I will NOT let this fic die off just because of school. I'm still taking any suggestions for scenarios and shenanigans, just message me on here or my tumblr. Enjoy yourselves! Make sure you're getting plenty of sleep and drinking water! Also, thanks for sticking around.


	6. Big Step

**Chapter 6: _Big_ _Step_**

 _What did he just say?_ The human stared up at the two skeletons with wide eyes, completely dropping her backpack onto the floor with a dull thud. "W...what?"

"We were wondering if you'd like to stay here...with us! We can talk about some kind of rent or helping with bills and chores later, but we'd be very happy if you said yes." He gave her a nervous smile, his hands lacing together as he fiddled and tried to hide just how nervous he was. After all, this would be a big change for all of them.

Lou had never lived around boys before. She grew up with two sisters, but always wished for a brother. Her interests often included male-centered shows and toys while her sisters would usually play with dolls and want to play dress up. Not her. Sure she had plenty of male friends and slept over their houses before, but that wasn't since grade school and this wouldn't be a simple sleep over. She'd be living here. The whole monster thing wasn't that big of a deal. Sure it'd take some getting used to, but it wasn't an issue as far as she was concerned. "I...I..." She realized she'd just been standing there, and the two were looking a little worried.

"I um...s-sorry, this is a lot to take in right now. Can uh...can we sit down?" She walked past them, heading to the couch and sitting on the edge. Sans flopped down next to her like he usually did. Somehow, this put her a little more at ease. Papyrus sat with his legs crossed in front of her, still looking concerned. Why did this feel like such a bombshell? "Okay um...before I say anything I gotta ask a few questions. How close are you guys to downtown and stuff?" She'd fallen asleep on the ride over so she had no idea what part of the city they were in.

Papyrus explained where they were, how far the nearest store was and how long it would take to drive to the school. Turns out, it wasn't half bad. They were more in the suburb area of town, but it wouldn't be hard for her to get a bus or even a ride with Papyrus to get around to further away areas like downtown. She insited he didn't have to drive her around, but like the night before, he insisted that the Great Papyrus wouldn't let his friend walk everywhere. Defeated, she shrugged it off and continued with her questions.

* * *

There weren't many, just a few small things to figure out how to get around and if there were any no-no's in the house. Papyrus said he wasn't sure about any, but that he'd appreciate not doing too many puns. Also, there was a swear jar for any bad words. She smiled. "I'll try, but I can't make any promises. To be honest, I probably get a good pun in maybe once a month." The girl shrugged.

"Do you have anything else to ask?"

"Um...no, I don't think so. I think I covered everything I wanted to figure out right now. You said we could talk about rent and such later so I won't bother doing that now." She sighed, waving it off before running a hand through her hair and looking down.

"So...now what?"

Lou continued to stare at the ground, then lifted her head to look around. She observed her current surroundings, then looked at each of the two brothers. "I admit, I really liked staying the night here and honestly...you two are the nicest guys I've probably ever met." Paps smiled at that. Again she sighed, grabbing some of her hair. Whatever she chose now, would be a big step. _Well...time to make a move._

"If you guys really want me to...I'd really like to try rooming with you two." She fidgeted with her hands, avoiding eye contact. _Oh god this is so embarrassing!_

* * *

Sans blinked at her. He hadn't actually expected her to accept. Well, at least not right away. Maybe that she'd think about it for a week, but not that she'd accept right now. _weird kid._

Papyrus seemed thrilled, pulling the human into a big hug and spinning her around. "Fantastic! We should get your new room set up right away! Oh! Is there anything we should get for you? I know that humans need a few different things than us." He held her out, hands under her arm pits. Sans couldn't help but chuckle a little. _she looks like a doll with him._

"Um...w-well I should probably let my current landlady know that I found someone to room with and get my stuff from her place?" She blushed a little. "I don't really have much, mostly just a box of personal stuff and some clothes."

"That should be fine and if you're needing any extra furniture for your new room we can find that as well!" He smiled, holding her under his arm. "Come on, Sans! We have to get going!"

Sans chuckled and shook his head. "alright, bro. i'm comin'." He smiled and slowly got up.

"W-wait a sec! I need my keys!" She wiggled her arms and legs childishly under Pap's arm, trying to reach her bag. "How else am I gonna unlock the door?"

"which pocket are they in?" Sans went over to her backpack, looking it over. After she explained which pocket and where, he opened it up and pulled out the keys. A brow bone rose as he looked at it. "seriously?" There was a single tie dye key attached to a skull keychain.

"I've had that way longer than I've known you guys, shut up." She blushed, puffing out her cheeks like a little angry chipmunk.

* * *

Lou's landlady was a little surprised to meet the two roommates that she'd be staying with, but after some interogation, lots of questions, and telling them about how they'd have to be sure to look after the girl she relaxed and wished them good luck. She even insisted on giving Lou a small bookshelf for her new room as a gift. At first she protested, but was defeated by the kind woman and Papyrus' comment about letting Lou make the room her own. Sans seemed to actually be very curious about the small farm, disappearing at one point to take a look around. Before it was time to leave they found him asleep under a tree surrounded by small animals and a few chickens. Papyrus scolded him for being lazy, but not before Lou took a quick picture with her phone.

Moving her things in wasn't very difficult. As she'd said, all she had was a box of personal items like books or games and a bag of clothes. She never unpacked at the farm, insisting that she was going to find somewhere else sooner rather than later. _I'm lucky that turned out to be true._ The girl sighed softly, looking around her new room with a small smile. _Man...what a crazy weekend._ A buzz from her phone pulled her out of her thoughts as she quickly saw the name and answered. "Hello?" She saw movement from the corner of her eye, turning to see Sans poking his head in. Waving a greeting at him and giving the sign that it was okay to enter, she went back to her phone call. "No, not until next week...uh huh...actually no, I just found some really nice roommates. Yeah! I think you'd like them. Mhm...tomorrow? Yeah, I can start tomorrow. Alright. See you then."

"who was that?" He stepped inside, leaning against the door frame and wall with his hands in his pockets.

"My boss. I told you I had a job as a waitress, didn't I? At least I think I did...sorry, I forget if I tell people stuff like that sometimes. Anyway, he was just asking if I could start tomorrow instead of Tuesday." She smiled gently, dangling her legs off the bed and slowly kicking them. "I won't be officially working, just learning the menu and stuff." The girl then moved aside, patting the spot beside her.

* * *

Sans rose a brow at her as she pat the bed, but came over and took a seat anyway. Man, if this kid got any sweeter he'd swear they were made of candy. "can i ask where you're working?"

"Nope, I want it to be a surprise. I think you guys would like the place though, it's got a pretty nice atmosphere." She smiled, being as vague as she possibly could to not give it away.

 _little shit._ He just grinned and nodded. "alright, kid. i won't push then. so, how you doin'? moving in and unpacking and all of that."

"Good. To be honest, I forgot I brought some of this stuff." Her head nodded to the small bookshelf. On the bottom shelf was a few video games while the rest was all comic books, manga, a few fiction novels, and some drawing books. At the very end of the shelf he noticed one small cook book.

"you cook?"

"Huh? Um...yeah? I mean I can follow a recipe and all if that's what you mean." Lou blushed a little and fiddled with her hands. "If you mean the book it's mostly just snack stuff like popcorn or stuff for different types of parties like banana and strawberry snake kabob things or tiny burgers for kids. Nothing big."

"the popcorn sounds good for movie night. maybe you can make it next time."

"That sounds fun." She smiled shyly. "Would you or Papyrus wanna help me make 'em? They're all pretty easy. Even a baby bones could do it." With a teasing smile, she gently nudged his arm.

Sans chuckled and smiled. "heh. cute, kid. real cute. i know Paps would love to cook with you."

"Why do you keep calling me kid? I don't really mind, I-I'm just curious." She tilted her head, causing her bangs to drop to the side enough for one of her big brown eyes to become visible. "Sometimes Papyrus slips and calls me human, which again I don't mind, but it makes a little more sense to me than kid and kiddo."

He blushed a bit, rubbing his neck. "heh, force of habit i guess. that, and calling you lady just doesn't have the same ring to it." She was silent for a little while, seeming to contemplate this answer. It gave him time to observe her again. Last time he'd focused on her hands and lips, this time he watched her eyes. They rarely made an appearance so he looked at them while he still could.

The color of her eyes wasn't immediately anything overly special, just your average muddy brown. But the eyes themselves, were another story. They were naturally big and round, making most expressions she made seem very kid-like and curious, especially when she made that little 'oh' face. Even when hidden under the shadow of her bangs, they held some form of shine to them, some light. Her expressions and inner emotions were laid out as easy to read as a picture book, nothing could be hidden. She had long eyelashes, thick and dark. It was hard to notice until he really looked at them, but they framed those wide eyes perfectly. If he didn't know any better, he'd swear she was wearing make up of some kind, maybe that mask-era stuff that Mettaton mentioned once.

It wasn't until she finally spoke that he was pulled from his silent studying. "Well...I guess that does make sense. I've kinda already gotten used to it anyway." She smiled that sweet little smile that always made him pause with whatever he was doing or about to say. "But you're the only one allowed to call me that, okay? You call me kid and kiddo, while Paps calls me human. Nobody else can use it." With what he assumed was a wink, being hard to tell with only one eye ever visible at a time, she got up and headed for the door. "I'm gonna go help Paps out with dinner, okay?" She left the room, leaving Sans to just stare at the empty space. "Oh! And Sans?"

He jumped a bit as she came back, peeking her head around the corner. "uh...yeah, kid?"

"Thanks again for letting me stay." She gave a nervous smile. "I...really like being here with you guys." With a small wave she was gone, footsteps fading down the stairs.

Sans watched her go, then ever so slowly flopped back on to the guest bed. _her bed...it's her bed now._ He stared at the ceiling, sighing and running a hand over his face. "man, what the hell is wrong with me?"


	7. A Little Rain

**Chapter 7:** ** _A Little Rain_**

Dinner proved to be just as lively as breakfast had previously that day. Or lunch, if one put into account the fact that none of them had actually gotten up until it was noon. Lou convinced Papyrus to make something besides spaghetti, showing him instead how to make silly dinner.

"Silly...dinner?"

"Yeah! It's something my mom made up when I was a kid. You basically just make breakfast for dinner instead of what you might usually make. So...normally for dinner we'd probably make mac and cheese or something like spaghetti, but if we did silly dinner we'd make scrambled eggs or breakfast potatoes and all of that. I...thought it might be fun since we had spaghetti this morning? K-kinda like an opposite day?" She gave another of her awkward grins. Mostly, these awkward grins were just nervous lopsided smiles, but somehow even these came off as adorable to the tall skeleton.

"Hmm...it does seem like a fun idea. Very well! The Great Papyrus shall try this...silly dinner, you said?" She nodded. "Yes! We shall try this silly dinner! Um...and while I, the Great Papyrus, am an amazing chef...I...may need a little help."

* * *

Lou agreed, showing Papyrus how to make scrambled eggs with bacon. _Thank god we went grocery shopping earlier._ She giggled to herself as they set the table. When Sans came down to join them, he seemed very surprised to find that spaghetti was NOT on the menu that night.

"uh...what's all of this?" He took his seat, watching both of them for an answer.

"It is silly dinner! Lou says it's something she did back home sometimes where they had breakfast for dinner. I thought it was a bit strange, but I am even more surprised that you didn't tell me you were a chef as well!" Pap's attention shifted from Sans to their new human roomie.

She just blushed and shrugged, a small clip holding her bangs up and out of her face while cooking. Sans secretly found it adorable, especially since he could now see her whole face unobstructed by pesky bangs. "You never asked! But don't call me a chef yet, you still gotta see if you even like it." She took her seat at the table, next to Sans as she'd done that morning. Papyrus sat across from them, taking a bite of the eggs first. "These ones are plain, but normally I add a little shredded cheese to the top of mine. You can add whatever you want on your eggs though, almost anything works."

"even ketchup?" Sans rose a brow, pausing with a fork of scrambled eggs.

"Believe it or not, it's actually pretty common to put ketchup on your eggs, yes. Salt and pepper is usually the more basic, but I've heard of people adding lots of different stuff to 'em." She took a bite of her food, then looked to Papyrus while Sans pulled a bottle of ketchup from his jacket. _Wait, how long has that been there? Does he always have one?_ She gave up on the thought, figuring they'd be going nowhere anyway. "How do you like it?"

"Well...it may not be as amazing as spaghetti, but I must admit this is very good!" He grinned, taking another bite. "I'm...not sure how I feel about this bacon though, it seems very greasy. Not nearly as bad as a certain place I know though."

"That's okay, you don't have to eat it if you don't like it." The girl smiled. "I can always put it in the fridge for tomorrow." Her eyes went to Sans and his ketchup covered eggs. It seemed his bacon was already gone. "Good?"

He looked at her, a mischievous look in his eyes. "yeah, these are pretty _**egg**_ cellent."

"Sans!"

"what? i thought for sure that'd **_crack_** you!"

"Oh my god!" While Papyrus continued to complain about the slew of egg puns, Lou had to push her plate away so she didn't squash it as she was pinned to the table in a fit of laughter, her hand patting whatever was close; the table, her leg, Sans' arm. "Human! Do not encourage him!"

* * *

They watched some TV after dinner before getting ready for bed. Lou couldn't help but look outside as she climbed into bed. _Huh, it started raining._ She smiled. She'd always liked the rain. It was peaceful, calming, and the sound of it tapping on a roof or an umbrella always put her at ease.

Sans was currently in Pap's room, something about a bedtime story? They'd offered for her to join them, but she politely declined. While it sounded cute, she was afraid she'd end up falling asleep on them again. As much as she enjoyed cuddles, she didn't want to be a pain on her first night as their roommate. Climbing into bed she rolled onto her side, facing the wall and closing her eyes. _A good end, to a good day._

 _ **CRACKA-BOOM!**_

Or not. She sat bolt upright in her room as a flash of lightning lit up her surroundings. Lightning and thunder wasn't really that bad most of the time to her.

 ** _BOOM!_**

Tonight however, seemed to be different. It was loud, meaning it was pretty close, closer than she was used to. Had lightning always been this terrifying? A third crack lit up the sky and she was up, out of bed, and out the door of her room faster than an olympic runner. She went for the first place she could think, Papyrus' room.

* * *

Sans nearly dropped the book at the first clap of thunder, pausing before looking to Papyrus in his bed. "whoa, looks like we got quite a storm tonight." He looked to his younger brother with a gentle smile.

"It is pretty loud tonight...do you think the human will be okay?"

"yeah, i'm sure they'll be fine." The door swung open and a dark blurr rushed into the room. Sans really did drop the book this time, eye starting to glow a bright blue as the blurr went for the bed, leaping up and immediately ducking under the covers. He took a step forward before pausing. The new lump under the blanket seemed to be shaking.

Papyrus was just as surprised by the door, letting out a surprised yelp before becoming completely frozen as something ducked into his bed. He glanced at Sans, then peeked under the blanket carefully. "...Human? What are you doing?" Sans relaxed a little when he heard it was just Lou, taking a step closer.

Just as it seemed like she was about to answer, another crack lit up the room. "EEP!" She quickly clutched onto the nearest object, Pap's waist. Her body was shaking worse than a Temmie on a sugar high and the grip she hand on Papyrus' pajama shirt was turning her knuckles white. They couldn't see her face, but they didn't have to. She was terrified.

"H-human...human please, it's okay." Papyrus tried to very gently peel her off. Reluctantly after a few tries, she obeyed, but was quickly pulled into his arms afterwards, sitting her in his lap with one hand wrapped around to rest at her back while the other gently pet her head. The petting had worked last time, so why not now? "Shhh...it's okay, Lou. It's okay. The Great Papyrus is here, see? And so is Sans!" He looked to the smaller skeleton, nodding his head for him to come over.

He didn't need to tell him twice, nodding and coming to sit on the bed. Sans reached out a gentle hand to the girl and lightly touched her head, then took one of her hands. They were so small compared to his, but quickly clung to the offered appendage like it was a lifeline. His usual smile fell, becoming a line of concern. "hey, kiddo. i'm right here. we're both right here, it's alright. see? c'mon kid. you never heard thunder before?" She peeked up at both of them, and it immediately broke his heart. The kid really was terrified. Her eyes were huge, pupils dialated, and tears prickling at the corner of her eyes.

* * *

Normally nothing really scared her this bad, at least not some little lightning. Horror movies scared her, being alone in a new place scared her, the dark...that was the only thing that ever scared her this bad. Sans had teased her a little earlier when she'd first pulled it out, earning him a pillow to the face. Her night light. She'd blushed red and carefully plugged it into the wall by the closet, admitting that she was indeed a grown woman who was still afraid of the dark. So what? Everybody was afraid of something. He'd dropped it, ruffling her hair before helping her unpack more of her stuff...then fell asleep while pulling out one of her stuffed animals.

Right now, she could hardly move. It took every ounce of willpower just to let go of Pap's shirt when he asked. Her skin felt cold, it was hard to breathe, and while she found it impossible to move she could feel her body shaking. _God oh god oh god ohgodohgod I must look so stupid! Come on, just move! Say something!_ But she couldn't. _So much for not being a pain..._ Something big and warm touched her hands. She recognized that feeling, Sans' hand. She clung to it, trying not to squeeze too hard while not wanting to risk letting it go either. Papyrus was speaking and petting her head, much like the night before when she'd cried. If was just him she wasn't sure if she'd have been able to calm down, but with Sans being there too she slowly started to breathe steadily again. They were still a little shaky, but they were better than before.

Her head lifted a little to look at them, finally able to register the things going on. Sans had scooted closer and was sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Papyrus, while Paps himself held her close in his lap. Both skeletons were doing their best to calm her down and make her feel safe. Papyrus had one hand petting her head while the other gently rubbed her back. Sans let her hold one of his hands while the other carefully reached over to wipe something from her face. Had she been crying? Her cheeks felt wet so she must have.

"i think it's workin', bro. see?" He gave a cautious smile as he continued to wipe the tears from her face, brushing some of her hair from her eyes.

"Are you okay, Lou?" Pap's voice was much softer than usual, quieter. When she tilted her head up to look, he looked as if he'd almost watched her die. "Did the thunder scare you?"

Lou tried to speak, but all that came out was a cracky squeak. Great, her voice still wouldn't work. Instead, she just nodded her head.

* * *

"Are you feeling a little better?" Again, she nodded, but curled up against him further. It would seem that she had no plans to leave anytime soon. Papyrus looked at his brother. Her grip on the other skeleton's hand was the same as before. "Well that's good, human. I don't suppose you want to go back to your room?" This time she shook her head very quickly, releasing Sans' hand only to grip onto Paps shirt again. He gave a weak smile. "Alright, that's okay too. You can stay here with me tonight, okay?" His gaze glanced over at Sans, half in question and half in pleading. _Please, Sans. She needs us._

The chubbier skelly sighed and shook his head with a small smile. "i'll stay with ya too, kiddo. just fair warning though, Pap's bed isn't as roomy as the guest bed. hope you don't mind a little squishing." He poked her side playfully, glad to get a shy smile and a nod in return. "alright. think you'll be okay between, then? it's either that or you gotta sleep on top." She nodded, not seeming to mind too much at the offer of either.

* * *

It took a bit of maneuvering, but eventually they found an arrangement that worked on Papyrus' race car bed. Lou was held close to Papyrus while Sans lay on the other side of her. He kept a hand on her head, gently rubbing the top while giving her his usual lazy smile. The book had been recovered and read, Papyrus easily falling asleep after that, but not before making sure she was feeling better and letting her know he'd be right there if he was needed. By now she was feeling much calmer, but admittedly still didn't want to go back to her room. It was pretty nice being around the skeleton brothers, and after tonight she was more sure than ever that she'd made the right decision to stay.

"Sans?" Her voice still cracked as she tried to speak, keeping her voice low so she didn't wake up Papyrus.

"yeah, kiddo?" His smile faltered, a bit of worry flashed over his face.

She gave a tiny smile. "Thank you." His expression softened. "I'm sorry for worrying you guys a-and for scaring you like this. I-I don't know what happened. Normally I love lightning b-but...it was just so loud and I..." Her eyes glanced downwards. "I'm sorry...and on my f-first night as your guys' new r-roommate too...I'm really sorry."

Sans lifted her head by taking her cheeks in his hands, then leaned forward to press his teeth to her forehead, the closest thing to a kiss he could give her. "don't worry about it, kid. you got scared, it happens. i'm just glad we were able to help, okay? now get some sleep. Papyrus has work in the morning so you'll be spending most of the day with me." He gave her a wink before closing his eyes, hands still on her cheeks. It wasn't long before she heard his soft snoring. _He fell asleep, while holding my face...of course._

A shy smile found its way to her lips, cheeks a little pink from the kiss...teeth bonk...kiss? She'd go with kiss. She turned her head just enough to give a kiss of her own to his palm before closing her eyes as well. "Good night, Sans...thanks."


	8. Oh Hell No

**Chapter 8: _Oh Hell No_**

Papyrus was already gone in the morning, but he'd been sure to leave a note saying to let him know how she was doing when she got up. Lou had partially woken up when he got up, but not enough to really count. She remembered smiling at him and maybe waving, but after that she'd gone back to sleep. When she awoke again, she was pinned under a passed out Sans who'd just rolled over on top of her. For a skeleton, he was pretty heavy. "S-Sans...Sans get up..." She groaned, rubbing her eyes and squirming. Nothing. "Sans I know you're awake, you're not snoring anymore." As soon as she said that, obnoxious fake snoring filled the room. "Dammit Sans! Get uuuuuup!" More struggling. "Saaaaaans! Ooooooooooooff!" She tried pushing at him. His head was easy to move and she managed to prop up his chest for a moment, but her arms soon gave and he flopped back down, causing her to huff.

"heh."

"Sans get off I need to get up!"

"no way, kid. you're pretty comfy." He peeked open an eye, a single glowing orb in his skull gazing at her. He was enjoying this, she just knew it.

"You're not even trying to pretend to be asleep now."

"nope."

"Sans if you don't get off I'll scream."

"seriously? that's the best y-" He wasn't able to finish before the loudest, most high pitched, blood curdling murder scream he'd ever heard errupted from the small girl's mouth. The fact that someone so small and normally quiet could make such a loud, terrible noise scared the living crap out of him. He pulled away immediately and scrambled back, falling out of the bed with hands covering the sides of his skull as his left eye glowed blue. Once he was off, the screaming stopped and she was sitting up, looking at him. If not for the fact her bangs were hiding her eyes, he could swear she was squint-glaring at him. "what the hell was that?!"

"I told you I would scream." She moved the blanket aside, swinging her legs over the edge and dropping to the floor to stand. Her eyes were barely visible from the angle he had on the floor, but she was giving him a deadpan stare. Half serious, half neutral.

"i didn't even know you could be that loud!" He shook his head, blinking and rubbing where his ears might have been. "if i had eardrums they'd be ringing."

"At least I didn't bite you this time."

"you bite?" A brow bone rose, slightly interested.

"On occasion. Usually only when people bug me or someone I don't like tries to touch my face without permission." She held out her hand to help him up. "Sorry. I wasn't sure what else to do and you wouldn't listen."

Sans looked at her, then sighed and chuckled as he took the hand and got up. "yer one weird kid, you know that? and you totally owe me for that screaming stunt."

"Yeah I know...and okay." She didn't mind the trade off of owing him. "Next time, either pretend to be sleeping better, or just get off. I have to get ready for work, remember?"

* * *

Sans had offered to walk with her to work, but she insisted on keeping it a surprise until Tuesday. He seemed to pout a little, but more because she hadn't fallen for that or any other little excuses he tried to make in order to sneak a peek. She chuckled a little to herself as she thought back on how she managed to give him the slip. After making breakfast and making sure she had what she needed, she grabbed her bag and smooched his cheek right as he tried to turn around and follow. His face had turned so blue she almost stopped to laugh before fleeing right out the front door. "Hehe, sorry Sans. Looks like I'll owe him two after this."

As she walked down the street she noticed she was getting closer to the school where Toriel said she was a teacher. _Hmm, I wonder if her and Frisk live around here then? It'd be nice to talk to them again, they seemed pretty nice._ She walked a little slower, then paused as she caught something out of the corner of her eye across the street.

Teenagers, probably around high school age, were pushing around a small child. A monster by the looks of it with a striped shirt and no arms. They were calling it names, commenting on how it looked, and playing keep away with its backpack. The poor thing looked like it was about to cry. _Oh. Hell. Fucking. No._ A fire lit in her eyes as she walked right in front of a few cars to cross the street. There was a near miss and one screeched to a stop, leaning out the car window to curse at her. She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes through her bangs, and the man stopped cold.

* * *

"Haha! Freak! How do you even do anything?" "Yeah, what sorta freak doesn't even have arms?" "Little dork! Go back under the rock you crawled from!"

The monster kid held back tears as they tried to dodge any kicks from the bigger kids, trying desperately to get their bag back. "C-come on! I-I'm going to be late for class!" One of the kids just laughed and held the backpack away from them before tossing it to his friend, but threw it too high and it went over his head. When the kid turned to see if they could get it, that's when they saw. A girl, maybe around the age of the kids messing with them, catch the bag with one hand and give a dark grin.

She flipped her hair out of her face. "Hey boys, having fun?" _Oh no, is this girl going to pick on me too?_ The human girl put the bag on the ground, next to hers, then came up, expression darkening further.

"Heh, what do you care, lady? So what if we are? You gonna tell or somethin'?"

The girl just laughed, a creepy giggle escaping and shook her head. "No...I'm not going to tell. But when I'm through with you, you'll wish I had." She stepped between them and the kid, a protective hand gently moving them aside and out of harms way. "You think you can just pick on some little kid and I'd just walk away? Mind my own business because they're not human? No. You mess with a kid, monster or not, and you have to deal with me."

"Weird monster-lover. Who the hell do you think you are?"

The kid couldn't see from where they were behind her, but something about her face must have scared these teenagers because their faces suddenly paled. "Karma."

* * *

Lou dusted off her hands on her pants, wiping a bit of blood from her nose. One kid managed to get a good hit, but quickly regretted it. Just because they were younger than her didn't mean she'd pull any punches. They lay on the grass now, groaning and holding onto certain hurting body parts. She then turned to the kid they'd been picking on, noticing they hadn't run off nor did they look scared of her. Most human kids would be freaked out or embarrassed for being saved by a girl, but not this kid. They actually looked at her like she was the coolest human in the world. She gave them a gentle smile and kneeled in front of them so she could look them in the eye. "Hey, you okay sweetheart?"

"Y-yeah! I'm okay. That was amazing!" Their smile grew huge.

A small blush formed on her face and she rubbed the kid's head softly. "That's good. Those guys are just stupid jerks, sadly pretty common for humans their age. C'mon, I'll walk you to school and make sure nobody else messes with ya, okay?" She picked up their bag and started walking, making sure they were able to follow.

"Really? Wow! Thanks, Karma!"

Her face reddened a little more. "Eh heh...m-my name's not Karma, kid. I just did that to sound cool and freak 'em out a bit. My name's Lou."

"Oh." They looked a little disheartened, then looked back up. "Can...I still call you Karma?"

"Sure."

* * *

Walking the monster kid, who she learned was actually named Kid, to school took a bit of time out of her walk to work. It wasn't too much trouble, seeing how she'd left pretty early anyways and managed to get there only a minute or two late. Her boss raised a brow at her, but gave her a warm smile and a slight roll of the eyes when she told him her reason, and noticed the bruise already forming on her nose. It took a while to learn the menu itself, mostly for any questions people would ask.

At the end of the day, she gave her boss a smile and a wave, walking back towards home. "Hmm...I wonder if Sans is still home." She got as far as the grocery store before a loud honking noise made her jump and look up.

"Human! What are you doing out on your own?" Papyrus pulled up to her, tilting his head.

"Oh! Hi, Papyrus! I was just heading home. Work training, remember? Where are you headed?" The human walked up to the car and leaned over the door of the red sports car. She couldn't help but notice now that it looked very similar to the bed in his room. _How cute!_

"Ah, yes! I almost forgot about that! I was just heading home, actually. Would you like a lift?" He gave her a friendly smile, surprisingly not asking about the fading mark on her nose.

"Sure." Lou opened up the passenger seat and climbed in. "By the way, what time do you get off tomorrow?"

"Hmm...a little earlier than today, why?" He rose a brow bone at her again.

"I officially start work tomorrow, and want you and Sans to stop by. You don't have to actually eat there or anything, you can just say hi if you like. I just thought...maybe it might be nice? I'm...a little nervous." She fiddled with her hands in her lap. "My boss is really nice and I got to meet a few of the regulars while I was there, b-but I've never done this before so I'm pretty scared. I-it'd mean a lot if even just one of you could drop in." When she looked up, he was looking at her. "I-I know it's a lot to ask after moving in a-and I still barely even know you two but um...I...I'm sorry, I'll shut up now."

Flustered and feeling stupid she looked back down at her hands, tugging at her jeans so bad she was almost worried she might tear a hole in them. Papyrus reached out a hand and rubbed her head, smiling softly at her. "We would love to, human! But...where exactly are you working anyway?"

"I'll tell you when we get home, so we can tell Sans."

* * *

Sans looked up as Papyrus and Lou walked through the door. He smiled at them. "how was work, you two?"

"Good!"

"Nerve wracking, but also good." Their resident human smiled at the skeleton and plopped down next to him on the couch. His cheeks glowed a bit as he remembered how she'd left earlier that morning.

"heh, that's good." He reached out a boney hand and ruffled her hair. _huh, i was right. my hand really is bigger than her head._ His phalanges easily covered her nose and barely touched her lips while the heel of his hand was resting on the back of her head. This kid was so tiny!

"Lou, you said you would tell me where you worked when we got home!" Papyrus hung up his work coat on the rack, then came over to sit next to them. It seemed like the human ending up between the two brothers might become a reoccurring thing.

"did she?" Sans rose a brow, remembering her stubbornness about keeping it secret before.

"Yes! She wanted us to visit her tomorrow while she was at work, but insisted that we both hear it at the same time." They then both looked at her with curious skeleton eyes...er, eye sockets.

She looked up at the two of them and smiled. "It's this really nice resturaunt and bar called Grillby's."


	9. Grillby's

**Chapter 9:** ** _Grillby's_**

The jaws of both skeleton brothers dropped as she gave them the answer with her usually happy smile. "Human! You're working at Grillby's?!"

"you know Grillbz?! how?" Sans had actually sat up and was looking right at her.

Lou blinked, looking at the two of them back and forth, looking very confused. "I...I'm confused. Is something wrong?" She tilted her head. They seemed like they probably knew the flame monster, but the reactions were...mixed. Sans seemed surprised and almost shocked, while Papyrus was a mix of shock and mild disgust.

"Ugh, it's Sans' favorite hang out. Don't get me wrong, Lou, Grillby is a kind and respectable monster and I'm very glad you have a job with a friend we know, but it's just...the grease." He frowned. She giggled a little when he said grease, finding his expression and tone a bit funny.

When she turned to look at Sans, his grin seemed to have grown a bit. "heh, i never expected ya to be workin' fer Grillbz, kid. guess i'll be seeing more of you around than i thought. but i gotta know, how'd you end up working there?"

"Um...well I was trying to find a place close to the school, somewhere I could find a bus or even walk to. A lot of the campus jobs were full, and some of the others told me I needed a haircut, like I didn't know that already." The girl rolled her eyes and puffed at the hair in her face. "I'll admit he was a bit skeptical at first since I was a human, but he was the only one that actually took my application seriously. Also, since he said the paper would just burn up if he touched it, that he'd look it over after they closed." At this part, she blushed a little and rubbed the back of her neck shyly. "I uh...missed the sign out front that said when they closed and uh...ended up just waiting there the whole day until it was closing time."

"when? i'm sure i would have seen ya." Sans rose a brow.

"A week ago. I stayed in the back at a booth in the corner. I don't think anybody even knew I was there. Even Grillby seemed surprised that I was still hanging around when he started closing everything up. While he looked it over, I told him I could help clean up, that way he could get home quicker and all. I uh...guess all of that won him over or something because I got the job as soon as we were done." She smiled, gently swinging her legs. "I think I'm gonna have a lot of fun working there, the regulars seemed pretty nice and now that I know Sans'll be there every now and then definitely makes it a lot less scary!" Her gaze went to Papyrus. "I understand if you don't like it there. You don't have to come if you don't want to." She gave him a kind smile. "Like I said before though, even if you just come to say hi and don't get anything that's fine."

Papyrus gave her a conflicted frown, then sighed and ruffled her hair, gently smiling. "I will come by after work. Maybe I can just grab a drink? Nothing alcoholic though." He booped her nose, getting her to giggle.

"speaking of which, how are you working there if you're only 20? don't humans need to be 21 to have alcohol or even touch it?"

"Normally, yes, but my birthday is in a month or two so Grillby said he'd make an exception. If anybody at a table orders anything alcoholic someone else will bring it out to them. I'm mostly just a normal waitress with the occasional dish duty."

* * *

The trio had talked for a while longer before making dinner. Lou was glad that Papyrus was so open to letting her teach him different foods. He seemed to have fun and was a quick learner. She liked cooking with him. Heck, any time she spent with the two skeleton brothers made her feel happy and warm inside.

She was almost reluctant to go to bed. Yes she had work tomorrow, but it meant sleeping alone in her room. The room was nice, the bed was comfortable and all, but it felt empty now that she'd spent not one but two nights with a pair of skeletons beside her. "Heh...most people would find sleeping with skeletons creepy." Her eyes went to the ceiling, squeezing the purple spider plush she slept with. "Man...Sans was right, I am a freak." For a moment her eyes stared solemnly at the blank ceiling, but a small smile soon found its way up. "I think I'm okay with that."

Lou was up extra early to get ready for work. She didn't want to be late for any reason whatsoever! _Unless those punks come back to pick on Kid again..._ Her fist clenched a little around her toothbrush, glaring into the mirror.

* * *

Paps had been reluctant to let her walk to work, but soon relented and let her go. He'd been surprised to see her up so early, but welcomed the company. She left much earlier than she actually needed to, which was strange, but he didn't pay it too much mind. _It's her first day after all! I'm sure she must want to make a good head start!_ When he did leave though, he passed by the school. He was surprised to see Lou walking with a child on her back. It was the monster kid from Snowdin, sitting on the top of her backpack as she walked them to school. There was a small group of human teens standing by one of the hedges, looking pretty beat up as they tried to pick on one of the children walking past. It was always hard to see humans not getting along with other humans.

As he watched, Lou came up and turned to look at them, her face no longer in his view. All he knew, was the teens looked absolutely terrified. They seemed to apologize and stumble over themselves as they ran off in the direction of the high school. When they were gone, she faced forward with that childish happy smile, dropping Kid off by the path leading to school and watching them go inside. The second they were at the doors she started on her way again. _What was that all about?_ Papyrus looked confused as the light turned green and he could move on. Later, he'd have to ask her or Sans.

* * *

Lou got there just in time, taking off her jacket and hanging it up in the back before checking in. "Morning, Grillby!" She smiled at the flaming bartender/manager, grabbing her waitress apron and putting it on. It was usually pretty warm inside the resturaunt, so Grillby had suggested she wear a t-shirt or at least something to help her keep cool while remaining professional. She'd gone with a black form fitting t-shirt and light jeans. Just in case she'd brought another pair of pants if the jeans weren't suitable, but the monster assured her they looked fine. These ones were straight legs, not bootcut.

Later in the day, the door chimed open and a few monsters turned to look. Lou was busy serving someone a plate of fries when she heard the light chorus of greetings. "Sans!" "Hey Sans, how ya doing?" She turned to look, a huge smile growing on her face as she saw the large skeleton and his tall younger brother walk in. Papyrus gave her a happy wave as he lead Sans over to one of the open tables. As soon as she was done with that table, she went over to theirs.

"Good afternoon, my name is Lou and I'll be your server for today. Can I get you started with anything to drink?" She gave them a small wink.

"Wowie, Lou! You look great! Are you having a good day at work so far?" He gave her his usual smile, looking over the drinks before ordering a soda.

"Yeah, I'm having a good time. So far there haven't been any problems, unless you count cleaning a spill or two, but it happens."

"good to hear nobody's giving you a bad time." Sans just asked for ketchup. She gave them another smile before going to get their drinks.

* * *

Papyrus agreed to getting a small order of fries, while Sans ended up ordering one of the Burgs. Whenever Lou came to check on them or walked by they'd smile and wave, give her words of encouragement, all of that mushy stuff. Finally, Paps looked at Sans. "I saw the human walking to work today."

"oh? i figured she got a ride with you."

"She left a little earlier than she needed to and wouldn't let me drive her, and while I passed the school I saw her walking with Kid, you know, from Snowdin?" He proceeded to tell his brother about what he was able to see, watching the skeleton's smile falter a little.

"you sure that's what you saw?"

"Of course! The Great Papyrus is absolutely sure! What...do you think it means? I'm worried about our human...I don't want her to get hurt..." He glanced at Lou, who's back was turned as she got the order of another group.

"well...i won't lie to ya Pap, but i did notice that her nose was a little busted up the other day..."

"WHAT?!"

"we can ask the kid when we get home, but i have a pretty good idea on what-"

 **CRASH!**

The two looked over, seeing a human male dump his drink over a monster sitting in the booth behind him before having thrown the glass to the floor, letting it shatter. _another human picking a fight with a monster just because they can..._ This kind of thing happened too often on the surface and it always left a bad taste in Sans' mouth. His eye socket started to lightly glow as the man strung a line of racial slurs at the monster. Just as he was about to get up and intervene, Lou was standing by the man herself. _what are you doing, kid?_

"Excuse me sir, is there a problem?" He couldn't see from the angle, but the grin on her face looked strained.

"Yeah, this _thing_ is sitting right behind me, and quite frankly I just don't feel safe around a freak like that." The man smirked. Because she was human, he thought he could get some support.

"I'm terribly sorry sir, but if you didn't want to be around a monster, then it would be best if you just left."

"Huh?"

"You see, this establishment is run and owned by that man over there, a monster. Incase you hadn't noticed, this bar and grill is also heavily populated by the same 'freaks' you wish to avoid. So, if you insist on being a racist _prick_ , I would highly recommend that you get your _ass_ out of that seat and out of this bar before I'm forced to call security." Her head tilted in a way that might normally have been cute, but from the look on the man's face it was anything but. Her hair hid any bit of her face that Sans or Papyrus could see, but in the split moment while she'd been speaking Sans had noticed her smile becoming...darker.

After the initial shock was gone, the man became enraged, getting up and towering over the girl before grabbing at her shirt. "You're seriously gonna defend these freaks over your own kind?! You'd really work under them like some little bi-"

He wasn't able to finish. Her smaller hands had gotten a death grip on his arm before firmly twisting, cutting him off. Everything happened so fast that no one else was able to react, everyone but Sans. He saw it all. She'd turned around, hoisting the man's arm over her shoulder before using his own weight to flip him over onto the floor, her hands twisted his arm and she kept him pinned to the floor.

"Language! I was being polite before." She lowered her head towards his. "Now get the hell out of this bar. I won't repeat myself a third time." Her voice was too low for Papyrus to hear, but Sans kept a watchful eye on her lips, reading her words. Once she let go, the security there took hold of him and escorted the man outside. Lou sighed and looked at the faces now staring at her. She physically paled and fiddled with the crumpled collar of her shirt.

"Um...s-sorry about that, you guys..." Just as quickly as it had happened, she went back to her usual flustered and shy self, checking on the monster who got the drink dumped on them and making sure everyone was okay. She got them a towel, cleaned up the glass, then checked on everyone else. The humans seemed a little wary, but those who defended equal rights for monsters gave her words of praise. Most of the monsters seemed a little scared of her, but after noting the genuine worry on her face and how she was checking up on everyone in the bar, not just the tables she was assigned to, they relaxed. Finally, she got to Sans and Papyrus.

"I-I'm so so sorry you guys had to see that. If I'd known that was going to happen I never would have asked you two to come today...I'm so sorry..." Papyrus looked a little surprised still, but gently smiled and ruffled her hair like he usually did.

"It's okay, human! I'm just glad you're not hurt. How were you able to do that though? That other human was so much bigger than you!"

"S-self defense class...a-and videos on TV or the internet. I just used his weight to set him off balance and...flip him. I'm actually surprised it even worked. I-I don't like to fight, but I knew that if I was gonna be going to college in a big city like this I'd need to learn a few things." She rubbed her arm, looking incredibly nervous and scared.

"well you're okay and you helped make sure someone didn't get hurt. i say that deserves something." Sans ruffled her hair himself, chuckling as her hair became a mess on top of her head.

"O-okay. Um...I get off soon. After this...do you wanna just go home?"

"Of course, human!" Papyrus smiled, watching her go back to Grillby before looking at Sans. "She must have been so scared...poor Lou. Maybe I'll make her some of my special spaghetti when we get home. That should help cheer her up!"

"heh, sure bro. sounds great." Sans watched the human carefully, smile a little more forced for Paps' sake. He'd managed to catch a look at her eyes when he messed with her hair. Muddy brown. He sighed. For a minute there, when she'd flipped the man, he could have sworn they were red.

 **Author's Note:** Hello! I hope you're enjoying the story thus far! Now this may seem a little unrelated because of how this last chapter went, but I've been wanting to do this for a little while. There's a poll on my profile page at the moment so if you guys could stop by and check it out that would be awesome! And yes, it is related to the Fanfic.

 **EDIT:** I removed a small part in the flipping scene. Nothing major, but looking back and after getting some feedback I realized it was a bit too much and completely unnecessary. Thanks again for all of your reviews guys!


	10. Talk

**Chapter 10:** ** _Talk_**

The ride home had been a little quiet. Sans kept staring at Lou while Papyrus tried to lighten the mood, but she didn't feel like talking. She sat uncomfortably, upset with herself for the way she'd acted. Grillby told her it was okay, but to be more careful next time. Things were certainly going to be awkward for a little while, at least that's how she felt. She kept her head low the whole time, bangs hiding any expressions on her face. "I'm sorry..."

They got home and she quietly shuffled inside, not meeting either of their gazes. She just kept saying sorry whenever someone tried to talk to her. Finally, Sans had enough. While Pap was in the kitchen making spaghetti, he grabbed the girl by the back of her jacket and dragged her to the couch. With both monsters, she was hardly even a paperweight. Easy to pick up and move around.

* * *

He sat her down next to him after he flopped down, locking his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. "quit apologizin' kiddo, you got nothin' to be sorry for." He hardly even looked down at her, but could feel that her face was firmly planted in his side. _oops._ "i do have a question for ya kid...so just hear me out." She moved a little beside him, tilting her head up a little to look.

"Paps told me he saw you by the school today. now being how he is, he didn't entirely get what was going on, but i think i do. especially after that stunt today." Sans could feel her stiffen a little. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, at least not yet. "said you were walking Kid to school and passed some roughed up teens. apparently, they looked a little freaked out when you came by and ran off. now i noticed you had a bruise on your nose yesterday, but it's fading pretty well, so you probably had some monster food afterwards. Grillby gave ya something for that yesterday, huh?" Her silence was noted, as was the fact she wouldn't look at his face. "i understand you not tellin' Paps, he'd probably freak out and make sure you didn't go out alone for a week. then today, you flipped a grown man over your shoulder and nearly gave everyone a heart attack."

She fidgeted under his arm. "S-so...what exactly are you asking?" Her voice was muffled by his jacket, the spot where she spoke warming slightly from her breath. It was meek, nervous, like when they first met a few days ago.

"should i be worried about you?" A faint blue glow tinted the white orb of his left eye. "you seem like a nice kid, you're pretty sweet for a human, but today i've seen how dangerous you can be...or at least some of it. obviously you're not proud of it which is why i'm only talking to you now, so you don't have'ta tell me everything just yet, but i wanna know for sure that my bro is safe and we can trust you. that you won't hurt somebody."

Lou pushed off of him, hands on his stomach as she sat up to look him in the eye. The movement caught him off guard and he tensed, watching her as the glowing of his eye became brighter. "What?! I'd never hurt you guys!" Her face looked like he'd just stabbed a knife through her chest. _ouch..._ "You two are the nicest guys I've ever met! You're my friends...I'd never hurt my friends..." Both eyes were visible, revealed by two parts in her bangs that let them peek through. Yep, she was definitely hurt. _double ouch..._ "Those guys were picking on a little kid! I-I couldn't just stand by while that happened...I just...I hate seeing when people pick on someone just because they're a little different...Plus, I freaking pinky swore to not hurt Papyrus! I dunno about you, but I take my pinky swears very seriously!" Tears welled up in her eyes. Oh great, now he'd really done it. Though he had to admit, the comment about her pinky swear was a little funny. Who ever heard of an adult taking one of those seriously? Either way, it didn't seem like she was lying. He hadn't known her very long, but it looked like she couldn't lie to save her life. It was good to know, but he remained a little wary. He had to.

Sans sat up, pulling her into a hug. How many times had he seen her cry now? _...how many of those times have been my fault?_ "hey, it's okay kid. i'm real sorry...i'm just...i don't want to see my bro get hurt or...worse." He buried his face in her hair, sighing into it. "you're a good kid and you've been good to us since day one. i just...you...it was pretty scary seeing you mad and i'm still getting used to humans, especially ones that don't hate us. i'm sorry."

* * *

She sniffed, hugging him back as her face was pressed into his shirt and squished into that ecto-glowy-blue-tummy thingy he had underneath. It was soft, squishy, and warm. If not for the fact that they were having a serious conversation, she might have been tempted to fall asleep right there. "It's okay...I got picked on a lot in school for being weird." Her voice was a little muffled, but he seemed to hear her okay, rubbing her back as she talked. "I hate seeing people being such jerks just because now monsters are a thing and think that just because we grew up with those stupid ghost stories and the whole boogeyman bull that it must be true and that it's okay to be complete asshats! ...I'll add a dollar to the swear jar later..."

Sans laughed. "that's only if Paps catches you, kid. and i understand. we grew up thinking humans were bad, but then Frisk came down and changed all that." He rubbed her arm, smiling a moment, before she lifted her head.

"I mean come ON! Yeah we have horror movies like The Grudge or Frankenstein and whatever, but there's also all those happier movies like Nightmare Before Christmas or Corpse Bride! Hell, Warm Bodies was a freaking Romeo and Juliet movie about a human girl and a zombie!" She huffed, flopping over his stomach with a childish huff. Sans stared at her a moment before bursting out laughing, making her look up at him in confusion.

"good to have you back, kiddo. that mopey mood of yours was starting to worry me." He rubbed her head and gave her a big grin. She returned it with a nervous smile.

"You guys are awesome, you know that?" Weird, but awesome.

"Ahem, human?" Papyrus was peeking out of the kitchen. "I couldn't help overhearing about some friendly movies involving monsters?"

"Yeah, I have some of them in my room, why?"

"Well, tomorrow is movie night. If you want, maybe we could add some of those to the list?" He gave her a wide grin as her eyes lit up.

"OHMYGOD YES! You guys have so got to watch them they are awesome!" She was geeking out, a big smile on her face.

"Fantastic!" He ducked back into the kitchen, then poked his head back out, giving the two a look. "Also, I heard that curse word. I'm only letting it slide this once because it has been such a crazy day."

Lou had a guilty 'oh' face, blushing a little bit. "Oops!"

* * *

Papyrus offered for Lou to stay in his room that night, saying something about humans often having nightmares after scary events. She assured him she would be fine, but did join him for that bed time story. That seemed to appease him enough. Once Paps was asleep, Sans walked her to her room.

"sleep tight, kiddo. i gotta work tomorrow. want me to walk with ya to work?"

"Um...yeah, sure. Why not? I don't work very long tomorrow though, so I figured I'd go to the mall for a little bit afterwards. I need a few more clothes and maybe I can grab a few things for movie night while I'm there?"

"heh, sounds good kiddo. i'll text you when i get off. if you're still there, i'll meet up with ya."

"Sounds like a plan. Good night, Sans." She waved, walking into her room with a small wave.

Sans smiled. "night, kid."

 **Author's Note:** Sorry this chapter's a little short! Heh, go figure that 2,000+ words ended up being my average! I've received some lovely suggestions for cute little scenarios and hijinks. I'll be integrating a few of them into the next few chapters. Don't worry if I don't do yours right away though, I plan to use them all at some point or another! Also, the poll mentioned in the previous chapter's Author Notes will be up for 2 weeks, hopefully giving you all plenty of time. I hope you all enjoy this little chapter. See you Thursday!


	11. Girl's Day

**Chapter 11:** ** _Girl's Day_**

Work was easier that day, but surprisingly a little busier as well. Word had gotten around about how a small waitress had taken out an unruly customer twice her size, so both humans and monsters alike stopped by to get a look for themselves. Grillby didn't mind the extra people, but insisted against any 'demonstrations', much to Lou's relief. She didn't want to do anything like that at work anytime soon, and hoped that the buzz would die down quickly. After work, she went to the mall like she planned. The local mall was a quick bus ride away, relatively average in size but still quite large from Lou's view point. What made it such a hot spot was all of the monster and human shops that had opened up since the town's newest residents made their home here. There was music, clothing, food, so many things from the two sides to be found.

Lou had barely gotten through the front doors when she was grabbed by her arm and pulled over. "Eep!" She pulled away a bit from whoever did it, raising the other arm to fight back when she realized this wasn't an attack, it was a hug. Her gaze went up, seeing the familiar blue face of a certain fish woman. "U-Undyne?! W-what are you doing here?" She blinked, not expecting to see anyone she knew today.

"Hey punk! Thought I recognized that face." The fish woman laughed, giving her a noogie while still keeping the shorter human close with an arm over her shoulders. "I was gonna say the same about you! Alphys and I were going to check out some of the stores." Sure enough, right next to her was her yellow dino-monster girlfriend, shyly waving and smiling.

"H-hey, Lou. It's good to see you again. What have you been up to?" Alphys adjusted her glasses. She was about the same height as Lou, but her back seemed to always slouch so it was entirely possible this monster was taller than her when standing straight too. _Why am I always the short one?_

Lou smiled, actually glad to have run into them. "Not much. I just got off work and was planning on getting some new clothes, maybe a movie or two for tonight." She straightened as Undyne finally released her, but kept a webbed hand on her shoulder.

"Tonight? What's tonight?" The fish woman was eyeing her curiously with a slight hint of mischief.

"Movie Night, with Sans and Papyrus. I told Sans I'd see if I could find anything else we could watch. I need to update what I have anyways."

"Oh, so you're going over to their house tonight. Is it a date?" Undyne teased, shaking the human's shoulder.

"W-what? No! I-it's not a d-date! I live with them..."

"Y-you what?" Alphys spoke this time, looking at her. "S-since when?"

"Um...today's Wednesday, right? Um...since...Sunday afternoon? It just kinda...happened. E-even I'm not really sure how...or w-why I said yes." The girl rubbed at her neck, only to hear a loud lough before feeling something hit her back, causing her to fall forward from the force. "Ack!"

* * *

As the three of them talked, somehow a simple hello ended up becoming a girl's day at the mall. Though neither of them were overly into fashion, they all looked at clothes with Lou and helped her pick out a few nice things to wear. Alphys insisted that she get a nice dress incase of a special occasion, despite the human protesting about doing so. "I-I don't really wear dresses a lot, they make me feel...exposed."

Eventually they found something that worked. A bright green dress with an open back. It was shorter in the front and slightly longer in the back, looking more like a dress a teenager might wear to prom, yet somehow worked on the adult. Then again, she was constantly mistaken for a high schooler anyway. "Hehe, I feel like Tinkerbell."

"Who?"

"Fairy from an old fairy tale. Maybe I'll show you sometime." She blushed, then rose a brow as Alphys seemed to be texting someone right after taking her picture. "Y-you're not posting that, are you?"

"N-no! Mettaton asked what we were doing." The scientist blushed, then jumped as her phone rang. "H-hello?"

"You're shopping for clothes with that new human from Saturday?! How could you, Alphy!" The voice of a certain flamboyant robot was easily heard through the other side of the phone, despite it not even being on speaker.

"B-but I-..."

"Without meee!"

* * *

Lou tried to keep from laughing as the robot loudly complained over the phone with the small scientist. After changing back into her clothes, she offered to help diffuse the situation by promising to owe the monster movie star a shopping day. _Shopping and a make over. God I am so doomed._ Luckily, this appeased him and they said goodbye, with Mettaton commenting about being unable to wait for their little date. _I am sooo doomed._ The trio walked all over the mall, having a great time just talking and laughing. They stopped at the new anime shop that Alphys had originally come to check out.

"Whoa, they even have the older stuff in here!" Lou picked up a Mew Mew Kissy Cutie manga, waving for Alphys to come over. "This is that anime you said you liked so much, right?" She held it out as the scientist came over, getting all sparkly eyed and squealing as she saw it. "You should read the original stuff if you like this so much."

"Or...original?" Alphys looked at her.

"Yeah, Tokyo Mew Mew. MMKC was more or less a copy of that show, but had enough differences to not be canceled. It didn't get nearly as popular, but stayed up for quite a while, even got a sequel. I have all the manga at home, but if you wanna watch the anime you'll have to look online or be lucky enough to find some DVDs and video. I have a few good sites you can probably find it. Oh, and if I remember right the anime is waay longer than the manga, so just a heads up." Lou was flipping through another manga when she paused. _Oh shit, did I just insult her? I hope I didn't! I just started talking and it all kinda slipped out! Dammit! I just called her favorite show a rip-off, of course she's upset!_ She slowly turned her head to look.

Thankfully, Alphys didn't seem upset at all. In fact, she seemed happy. "Y-you'd lend me your manga?" Oh good, she wasn't upset about hearing her favorite anime was a rip-off.

"Yeah, why not? As long as the book comes back in one piece I don't mind. Besides, I've read the whole series including the two-book sequel like a million times. If you like it, you can even keep it. Lately they've just been collecting dust anyways." She put the book back. "Just let me know what kinda anime you usually like. I'll see if I have anything you'd be into. I don't know much still, but I end up finding new stuff all the time. Like seriously, I have a list of unwatched and still-to-be-finished anime I need to watch that's like a billion miles long!" The two talked for a good half hour about more anime before Undyne came over with some action adventure and giant robot animes she'd found, joining in on the conversation with her own personal brand of enthusiasm.

* * *

Lou paused as they walked towards the food court, causing Undyne to bump into her. "Hey Lou, why'd you stop?" The human raised a hand and pointed, both monsters looking in that direction.

Not too far away was Sans, serving hot dogs at one of those mini fast food places. "I didn't know Sans worked here." She blinked. Part of her had wondered what his job was, but this hadn't exactly been her immediate guess. Actually, she hadn't been able to figure anything out since there was no obvious indication of what it was and he'd never mentioned it at home.

"You should go talk to him." Undyne grinned, nudging her shoulder with a coy grin.

"Okay?" She rose a brow, not understanding the look. "I was getting a little hungry anyway. You guys want one?" The two shook their heads, saying they'd grab something else and meet them at one of the tables. As she started walking she could swear she heard some giggling. Shrugging, she walked up and smiled as she got to Sans. "Hey there, can I get one hot dog and a large skeleton to-go please?"

* * *

The skeleton sighed as he started to turn around. "cute kid, but i'm afraid we don't sell-" He stopped when he looked down to find his roommate standing there with a large grin on her face. _...you little shit. don't give me that face._ Sans gave her a smile and leaned over the counter. "about time you got here, kiddo. was waiting for you to find me."

"I...didn't realize I was supposed to be looking?" Her smile dropped and she looked a bit worried, oblivious. "I didn't even know you worked here." _dammit why does she have to make such cute faces like that?_

"heh, don't worry about it, kid. i never told you." Luckily there was nobody in line, so he had some time to kill. "how's the shopping trip been going?" He leaned over the counter and smiled at her.

"Pretty good, found some good stuff. Alphys and Undyne made me get a dress." She rolled her eyes. _did she say dress?_ Now he was trying to picture her in different dresses, but he'd never even seen her in a skirt and was unable to come up with anything.

"Alphys and Undyne are here?" He lifted his gaze a bit, quickly finding the two at a table not too far away. They were trying to stay discrete, but were very obviously watching their conversation with extreme interest. _shit..._

"Yeah, I bumped into them and we just kinda started hanging out." Lou leaned on the counter a little herself. "It's kinda nice to hang out with other girls again. I don't usually feel all that comfortable around girls, to be honest. These days they tend to be pretty catty and just...mean. Well...back where I used to live anyway. It's nice to not have to worry about that stuff around these guys." She smiled.

Sans' cheeks turned a little blue as he watched her talk. Why did that little smile of hers always have to be so cute? It was like this kid oozed innocence most of the time. That's why it was so shocking to see her flip a man over her shoulder back at Grillby's the other day. He gave her a gentle grin before ruffling her hair. "that's good to hear, kiddo. i'll be getting off in about an hour, you still want me to join you or would you rather have a girl's day?"

Lou blushed a little when he ruffled her hair, then glanced back towards the tables, trying to spot Undyne and Alphys. "Um...a girl's day does seem pretty fun, but I did already say I'd hang out with you last night...I-I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you tagged along!" Her head turned back, giving him a hopeful smile. _dammit...too freaking cute..._

He coughed, straightening up a bit and rubbing the back of his neck. "uh...ask 'em first, then let me know. i can always just wait until you're done to take you home."

"You don't have to wait..." A small frown went to her face, almost pouting. "I don't wanna make you wait. I'm sure they'll say yes though!" Her smile returned.

"heh, alright kid. here's your hot dog." He handed it over. "don't worry, this one's on the house."

"No." She accepted the hot dog, but dropped the money in his open hand before he could pull it back. Sticking her tongue out at him, she waved before fleeing to her friends. He stood there for a good minute with the money in his hand, before putting it away. She'd even given him a tip.

* * *

Undyne and Alphys had the biggest grins on their face when she got back, taking a seat next to them. "So, how'd your little chat with Sans go?" They were smiling awfully weird.

"Um...good? By the way, i-is it okay if he tags along after he gets off work? I did kinda promise he could come with me last night. B-but he said he wouldn't mind if we just wanted to do a girls only thing." She fidgeted a bit, not wanting to kick Sans out but also not wanting to pressure her friends.

"S-sure! He can totally tag along." Alphys looked like she was trying to hold something back, like when you read a really cute part in a book but there are other people around and you don't want them to look at you funny as you squeal.

"Yeah! We could even call it a double-date." Undyne made a certain face while wiggling her brows at Lou, bitting her bottom lip and grinning wide.

"D-d-date?! N-no way! It would not be a date!"

"Oh come on! He totally likes you! Aaaaand...I bet you like him." The fish woman elbowed her arm, only grinning more as the human's face turned bright red.

"D-do not! ...I think...I-I don't know! Sh-shut up!" Lou yanked up her hood, pulling it over her head. "If that were the case then I'd probably be having the same problem with Papyrus..." She muttered, then quickly regret it.

"You like Papyrus?!" Undyne slammed her hands on the table while Alphys spit some of her drink. A small crack formed in the hard plastic.

"I never said I liked either of them!" Lou looked up, face beet red. "I only said that if that were the case, then I must have the same problem with Papyrus because I feel exactly the same whenever I'm around either of them!" Oh crap, now she'd done it. They were both looking at her with stunned faces.

"So...what do you f-feel?" Alphys asked first.

"Um...I...don't really know? I mean they're both really nice to me, but they seem to be nice with everybody. I just...really like being with them. I feel happy when they're around and when we're all hanging out I just feel...warm. Like I'm...safe...home." She folded her arms on the table and rested her chin in them with a sigh. "I feel like I can be normal around them, you know? Normally, I don't really like being around people...I don't talk and when I do end up hanging out I keep to myself. Since being with them I...haven't done any of that. Heck, it's probably because of them that I'm even talking as much as I am right now. They...make me feel like I'm not a freak anymore. I feel like I'm...like I'm...um...well, like I actually belong somewhere for once." For a while she just stared at the hot dog she got from Sans. Then she just shook her head, but didn't lift it up. "It's way too soon to tell if what I feel is a crush or something more...platonic, but I do know I like them. That much I can say with 100 percent certainty."

The couple looked at each other, then back at their friend. "Alright, we won't push then. But...that won't stop us from shipping it!" Undyne grinned, holding back a girlish squeal. Lou just groaned, hiding her face in her sleeves.

"You guys are killing me, I swear." She huffed into her jacket. "Dorks..."


	12. Napstablook

**Chapter 12:** ** _Napstablook_**

The two continued to lightly tease her about both of her roommates for a little while, before finally deciding she'd had enough and settling for more basic questions. Like how she was doing, what she was going to do in school, anything she's noticed about living with the two skeletons.

"Well, I think I'm doing pretty good. I started up my job at Grillby's. Had a bit of an...incident my first night, but everything turned out okay." Lou glanced away under her hair, taking a bite of her hotdog.

"Oh my-...wait a minute was that YOU?! Don't tell me you're the badass I heard about?" Undyne's eyes practically sparkled as she looked at her human friend with newfound respect and enthusiasm. "It was, wasn't it?! Dude! How did you do it?! You're so...tiny! I heard the guy was huge!"

"H-he was...a-and yeah I'm small...b-but it was just about leverage and knowing where to flip him. Classic self-defense move. Hard to learn and harder to actually use." She glanced back at the fish. "Um...do...you want me to show you sometime?"

"Heck yeah! I was gonna ask her to try using it on me! But now that I know it's you, I can just ask you anytime!" She got a big toothy grin on her face.

"M-maybe some other time...a-and not in public where we'll get in trouble?" Lou lowered her head, moving on to the next question. "Um...well I'm mostly doing General ED stuff to start, but I am gonna take American Sign Language as well. It seems pretty interesting to learn." She smiled. "Um...as for living with the boys uh..."

"You just called them the boys. That's so cute!" Undyne cut in, hands going to her cheeks.

"I'm...still working on a better nickname. Uh...a-anyway, Papyrus seems to leave pretty early for work, earlier than me anyway, while Sans likes to sleep in."

"We don't wanna know their routine dummy! WE wanna hear what YOU'VE been up to! Details! We wanna hear all your skele-human shenanigans!"

"R-right, sorry. Um...well when I first slept over, b-before I was their roommate and was just going to spend the night? Well we kinda just talked for a few hours and...ended up passing out." Lou blushed as she retold all of her little shenanigans and stories of what had happened thus far with the skelebros. _Skelebros...that would work._ Undyne and Alphys blushed and squealed anytime she mentioned getting carried or some other forms of physical affection, then looked at her when she mentioned the thunderstorm.

"Oh yeah, we heard that one! N-not about you g-getting scared, but we heard the lightning. It was s-so loud that time! I haven't head it th-that loud before. Must have been a pretty b-big storm." Alphys nodded sympathetically. "I-it was nice of Papyrus and Sans to let you spend the night in their room."

"Y-yeah." Lou blushed, stirring her drink with her straw and watching the ice clink around.

"so what was it like, sleeping with two skeletons?" A voice behind her made her jump, dropping her hotdog in the process. Lou looked up to find that familiar shit-eating grin.

"Sh-shut up! A-and don't sneak up on me like that!" Sans just smiled, taking a seat next to her while he munched on his own hotdog. She pouted at him.

"so, you gonna answer?" He rested his chin in the palm of his hand.

"Nope." She pulled her hood up.

* * *

After a bit of light teasing and friendly chatter, countered multiple times with nopes from the human, the trio became a quartet and continued on. Normally Sans might lag behind a bit and watch from behind, but Lou seemed insistent on keeping him close. When he asked why, he slightly regretted asking.

"I don't wanna lose you." Then, she'd taken hold of his arm and stuck close to the other two. His cheeks turned blue, smile faltering. It wasn't bad, but he hadn't expected that. Alphys and Undyne giggled to each other, trying to secretly glance at the two. _what's up with those two today?_ Just as he was about to make a comment, Lou stopped, causing him to bump into her a bit. She took a step to not stumble, but was looking at the store next to them.

"hm? what's up, kid?" He turned his head. It was one of those large chain book stores. He didn't bother remembering the name, just knew that it was big, had a lot of books, always had some kind of coffee place in one corner, then music and movies towards the back. "you wanna go check it out?" Her head immediately turned to look at him, eyes wide and a childish pleading look on her face. "heh, i'm cool with it. what do you two say?" Alphys and Undyne nodded. Looks like they'd be going in.

* * *

Lou stayed close to Sans for a while, until he assured her he'd be fine and that they'd all meet up at the coffee area when they were done. She was a bit reluctant, but went on her own to look through the music. Her manga fix had already been used up at the anime store from earlier, so she figured she'd check out what they had here in terms of tunes and media instead. After a quick look in the movies she found 9 on sale and a Studio Ghibli movie pack, grabbing those before heading to the CDs. A small white ghost was floating nearby with some headphones on, seeming to mind his own business. She glanced at him, but thought that maybe it would be best to leave him be. Most people didn't like being interupted while checking out this kind of stuff.

Her taste in music was often...outdated. Not simply because she was particularly into older music, but also that any songs that were new to her, were more often than not at least a few years old. Whenever she did manage to find something current, it was a surprise. For now she grabbed an Evanescence CD, Goo Goo Dolls, and a soundtrack of one of the Glee seasons. When she turned around, the ghost was looking over her shoulder, causing her to jump a little. "Ah!"

"O-oh, I-I'm sorry...I didn't mean to scare you..." He backed up a little, lowering his head. "You have an interesting range of music..." His head nodded to the CDs in her hand.

"Oh, i-it's fine. I spook easy, d-don't worry about it." The girl gave him a sheepish grin before looking down at her music choice. "Heh, yeah. I uh...don't really have a single genre. Um...what kind of music do you like? I saw you listening not long ago."

The ghost blushed a little, fading slightly. "Y-you saw that? Um...I was just looking at something for ideas..."

"Can I ask for what?"

"I-I like to make my own mix tapes? My cousin says I should try showing it to people but...I don't think a-anybody would like it..." He faded more, almost completely gone now.

"Can I hear it?" She tilted her head. "I-I like listening to new songs. Well...new things in general are pretty fun." He looked up at her with wide eyes before becoming visible again.

"You...really want to hear it?" When she nodded, he gave a tiny smile. The ghost floated over and put his headphones on her head, before turning on a cassette tape. Lou couldn't remember the last time she'd seen one of those, but remembered listening to them as a kid. Rewinding was always a pain.

The song itself had a spooky vibe to it, but was actually really catchy. She smiled, lightly bouncing her head to the beat. "Hmm hm hm hm hm hmm, hmm hmm hmmm. Da da da da da ba da da daa." He seemed to smile as she sang along to the tune, showing that she genuinely enjoyed it. The human pulled off one of the ears so she could talk. "This is really good, you made this?"

He nodded. "Y-you have a very nice singing voice..."

Lou blushed a bit, pulling the headphones down entirely. "Th-thanks. Um...my name's Lou."

"I-I'm Napstablook...I-it's nice to meet you, Lou." He smiled again, then took back the headphones.

"You too. Y-your cousin is right though, you're very good. I think you could be a pretty awesome DJ if you wanted."

* * *

Sans found a good joke book and something on human anatomy, health, and psychology. If they were going to have a human living with them, he wanted to better understand how they worked. Mentally, and physically. Their current human did seem a bit strange. He passed by the music section on his way to the meeting spot when he noticed Lou talking to someone. A little white ghost, Napstablook if he remembered correctly. They were harmless, a bit withdrawn, and apparently cousins with Mettaton. As he watched they seemed to be having a relatively happy conversation.

Lou didn't smile as much as she usually did though, it was small and shy. Her voice must have been quieter too, because it was hard to hear them even in the quiet store. She seemed...different. Not bad different, just...different. With Alphys and Undyne she was a little different too, but still more open than what he was seeing now. This was shy, timid, and reserved. Her hands were fiddling with her jacket and he could tell without seeing them that her eyes avoided direct eye contact.

Paps had mentioned she'd been a little bit like that when he'd first talked to her. The same could be said about when she was originally introduced to them at the bowling alley. Up until she told them her name and Sans had started a conversation with her, she'd been practically mute. So why was it that when she was with the bros or at home she was so much more open and silly? _"I had a great time tonight. Thanks for that." "I'm sorry..." "You're my friends!" "You guys are awesome, you know that?"_ Could that have anything to do with it? She certainly seemed a bit more...comfortable around them than anybody else. At Grillby's she was pretty open, but that was her job. She couldn't be shy and stuttering over her words at work. Maybe he'd ask her later...no, she'd just dodge the question. Maybe Alphys.

For the time being, he walked up to the two of them. "hey Lou. Napstablook." He nodded to the ghost. The ghost nodded back, nervously looking back at Lou.

"S-so you think...you can come by sometime?"

"Sure! I'll give you a call or something and we can figure it out." Lou smiled. "I should probably catch up with my friends now though. It was nice meeting you!" Her attention went to Sans for a moment, letting him know she knew he was there, before looking back to the ghost.

"Y-you too...Bye." He smiled as the two walked off.

"make a new friend?" Sans looked down as she took hold of his arm again. _"I don't wanna lose you."_ He looked up to her face, smiling a little when she nodded. "that's good. Blook's a good guy."

* * *

Napstablook kept smiling as he watched Lou and Sans walked off. Then, something clicked in his head. Could that be the human his cousin had mentioned? She had said she was rooming with a pair of monsters, and seeing her with Sans would confirm that. He pulled out his phone and dialed his cousin's number.

"Blooky darling! So good to hear from you, dear! Do you need me to pick you up yet?"

"N-no, but I'll be heading back soon...I-I met someone nice today..."

"Oh Blooky that's wonderful! Tell me aaaall about it!"


	13. Movie Prep

**Chapter 13:** ** _Movie Prep_**

Alphys and Undyne waved as Sans and Lou split from them, heading home for the day. Sans had tried to get her to let him carry at least a few of her things, but was immediately rejected every time. He laughed and they started walking. Papyrus said he'd pick them up on his way home, so they didn't have far to walk before finding the park to wait. Lou sat down next to him, slouching as she sighed and leaned her head against the back. "heh, have fun kid?"

"Mhm." She nodded. Her hair fell away from her face with her head leaned back like that, letting him look at her better. Her eyes were closed.

"if you're tired you can lean on me a bit. i don't mind." He lifted an arm, keeping his eyes on her. She turned her head in his direction, sat up a little to look at the space offered, then sat a bit closer before leaning into his side. The human let her head flop over onto his chest and stomach, closing her eyes again.

"Thanks." Her voice was a small mutter, something she usually only seemed to do at night. Would she even make it through movie night? He chuckled and draped his arm over her, observing for a minute how his sleeve easily covered her side like a small blanket.

"no problem, kid. just try to stay awake later when we start watchin' those movies." She mumbled an 'ok' before going quiet. _damn this kid is cute. how does she do it?_ There was nothing to indicate it was on purpose. Everything she did she seemed to do around everybody else, so it being just some act was unlikely. Her lying skills were terrible, he'd seen. Whenever she tried she always ended up being extremely vague or switching to something else to avoid it. That, and her emotions were almost always right there for everyone to see if they paid attention. He really didn't get this kid, but he was glad to know them. _even if she is pretty scary when she's mad._

That reminded him of the red eyes. What were those all about? Had he just imagined it? His nightmares had gotten a little better in the year and a half they'd been on the surface, so it couldn't be some kind of flash back overlapping with reality...could it? It certainly seemed real enough, but that was the weird thing. It couldn't be...them. They didn't come around anymore since they left the underground. In fact, they might have even stayed down there. Besides, Lou hadn't killed anyone, just threatened the man and with the human teens she'd just roughed them up. _that, and so far it's only been towards humans. she hasn't done this towards monsters at all._ If it was them though, attacking humans wasn't too far fetched. He shook his head, sighing and rubbing a hand over his face. He needed to chill out, stop overthinking all of this. There was no way it could be them, Frisk had said they were gone. Even Flowey hadn't heard from them. _maybe the kid just has a short temper for jerks._

He looked down at Lou, tilting his head to get a better look at her face. She was so...small. Sure a lot of humans were short compared to monsters, most of them were pretty big and had quickly learned about the difference in size when coming to the surface. Most people freaked out or were scared when they first met a monster, especially the skeletons, but Lou didn't. He would never tell, but he'd kept an eye on Papyrus when he went to talk to her. Yeah she'd looked a little surprised, but not by the fact his brother had been a skeleton at least. Earbuds had been pulled out of her ears so she must not have known Papyrus was even there until he tapped her shoulder. That would spook anybody. _so why isn't she scared of us like the others?_ Even Frisk had been wary at first when they'd met, but this girl didn't care. _heck, she even spent the night with us twice and moved in._ Sans shook his head slowly, running a hand over her head.

When she stirred he paused, but continued when she settled down. She wasn't asleep, maybe only halfway there. When he pet her again she leaned into his touch a little, a small smile forming on her usually neutral face. He smiled. "you are so weird." The human peeked open an eye curiously, then looked up at him. "heh, dork." She poked her tongue out for a moment before snuggling into his side a little more, hugging an arm around his belly.

"Mmaybe...but 'm your dork." He'd never felt his face burn as much as it did after that.

* * *

Papyrus arrived less than a half an hour later, easily finding the two on the bench near the edge of the park. He walked over, surprised to see Sans was just staring ahead with a blush while Lou was taking a nap next to him. These roles seemed like they should be the reverse to some extent. "Did I miss something?" He looked between them.

Sans looked up at his brother, face a bright blue. "bro, this human is way too cute for her own good."

"Why? What happened?" He rose a brow, looking down at the napping human. It was true that the human was indeed adorable. There'd been many occasions where he caught himself blushing because of some small thing she said or did. It was always so simple an innocent that neither of them ever knew what to do. When Sans told him about the dork comment he found himself blushing once again. "A-are you sure that's what she said?"

"yeah bro, word for word. then she just...fell asleep."

"It's certainly...a bit bolder than what she usualy says as a response. Perhaps it's because she was tired? I wouldn't bring it up, you know how easily she gets embarrassed." He reached down and gently lifted the human off of his brother, holding her up against his chest. She hadn't been asleep long, and stirred awake from the small movement. "Ah! Did you sleep well, human?" She peered at him before giving a small nod, resting her head on his shoulder. He smiled softly. "See? She's exhausted."

"y-yeah. i must just be overthinkin' it, bro. she's a pretty weird kid after all."

* * *

By the time they got home Lou was awake again, this time staying that way as she brought Papyrus with her to the kitchen. After pulling him over, she told him to wait before rushing upstairs and returning. She had a small snack cook book in her hand, the same one that Sans had pointed out, flipping it open to show him a few different popcorn snacks they could make that were easy to do. After some small debating and double checking of what ingredients they currently had, the two decided on some garlic parmesan popcorn and the choco-peanut butter popcorn. Sans gathered up the movies and got started on a pillow fort.

Lou smiled up at Papyrus as they got everything together. "Alright, we have enough popcorn?"

"I believe so. Even if we don't have enough for these that's okay, we can just use the microwave ones that Sans got the other day." He smiled, rubbing her head with a skeletal hand as he got to prepping the chocolate-peanut butter mixture while she stirred the garlic and parmesan in its bowl. Both recipes required the popcorn to be freshly popped, so while they mixed or microwaved the kernals were popping in a covered pan on the stove. Lou told Papyrus that doing it like that was old fashioned style, something her mom had done. "Lou...I can't help but ask but...I hear all these little things about stuff you've done with your mom but...I haven't heard about your dad."

The skeleton immediately regret his question as her smile fell. "I...don't like talking about him..."

"Oh...is he-"

"No, he's alive...I think. He just...wasn't a good man. Let's leave it at that." She brushed her hair from her face, looking up at him with a weak smile. "Come on, let's talk about something else! We're gonna have movie night, we should be happy!" He could see the hurt behind her eyes, but didn't want to push and risk making their first movie night depressing.

"Alright, huma- Lou. What do you want to talk about?"

"How was work today? I know you have this like office type job, but I never heard what it is you do exactly. I saw Sans at a hotdog stand at the mall, so I know what he's doing."

"Oh, that was his part-time job. He has another job at a furniture store. Don't ask me how he got it, even he isn't entirely sure." Paps shook his head and huffed, a small smile on his skull. His brother may be a lazy bones but he still did his best. Even more so since they got to the surface. "Anyway, I work in city hall. I help solve problems between monsters and humans."

"Oh?" Lou blinked up at him.

He smiled and nodded, enjoying the curiosity in her eyes. "Yes! I help them come to an agreement or a compromise that both sides can be happy with!"

"Whoa! That's so cool! You have a really important job then." Her smile and compliment caused an orange glow to tint his cheeks.

"Y-you really think so? Wowie...thank you, Lou!" He picked her up, careful to make sure her mix didn't spill as he gave her a big hug. She giggled, giving him a small kiss on the cheek.

"You're welcome, Paps." His blush only got worse.

* * *

Soon, both bowls of popcorn were ready. They decided to let them cool on the counter for a bit while going to join Sans to pick what movies to watch first. He was already sitting on the floor in front of a large fort with the movies spread before him. The fort was practically a small tent-castle made from different blankets and pillows from around the house, including a few from their own beds. Lou sat down between the brothers as they looked over the movies.

"Lou, you said you had some monster movies that weren't scary you wanted to show us? Um...which would those be? And do any of them include skeletons?!" Papyrus peered curiously at the selection.

"Well this one, Corpse Bride, does have some skeletons but none of them are main characters. Then this one, Nightmare Before Christmas, the main character Jack Skellington is a...well, his last name is Skellington. That should explain itself." Sans was snickering to himself at the name, definitely amused by the subtle pun. "Um...I don't think I have any others with skeletons, but I can certainly look them up for next time. Oh! Wait! 9 has a little, but sadly they're used as bad guys by the main villain...but it's more like a control thing, not them being bad. That and it's animal skeletons so I'm not sure it counts. It does revolve around souls though, so you may like that? I dunno, I just remember hearing something about souls being important once." The girl waved her hand dismissively.

The two brothers watched her with a mix of fascination, awe, and amusement as she explained more of the movies they had to choose from. Apparently the Studio Ghibli movies mostly included monsters from Japanese folklore or had a high influence with magic. Except for one. "Grave of the Fireflies..." Lou held it up solemnly. "Beautiful movie, but very sad. Based off of a dark day in human history...a reminder of something we never should have done."

"what would that be?" Sans rose a brow.

"World War II...I don't know if you heard about it but a lot of bad things happened then. Holocaust, Hitler...this movie mostly centers around when America dropped the atomic bomb on two cities in Japan and how it effected the people there through the eyes of two kids. This happened a long time before I was born but...it's still important. You should watch it but...maybe not tonight. Like I said, it's a sad movie." She placed the movie aside.

Eventually they agreed on four movies, seeing how nobody had anything to do on Thursday anyways. First they'd watch Corpse Bride, next was Monster's Inc., then Nightmare Before Christmas, and finally they'd end on My Neighbor Totoro.

Lou got up to grab the popcorn, coming back and situating herself between the two brothers again. Papyrus was to her right and Sans was to her left, both wrapping an arm over her shoulders to give her a squished hug. This only made her laugh and smile.

 **Author's Note:** Sorry for cutting you guys off here, but I figured it would be best to put the reactions to the movies in the next chapter so there isn't too much just crammed into here. I know you're all dying to have them watch these movies, and I'm sorry if I didn't include one of the ones you guys were hoping for. Don't worry though! This won't be their only movie night. Maybe the next won't be nearly as drawn out like this, but having them all sit together and watch movies is sure to be an ongoing thing here and then! I hope you enjoyed some more interaction with Lou and Papyrus. Those two haven't interacted nearly enough! Also, for those who requested cooking with Paps, I plan to include that in the coming chapters. You really think I'd leave you with a small section of them making popcorn like that? Ha! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and always love hearing from all of you! See you guys next time!


	14. Movie Night

**Chapter 14:** ** _Movie Night_**

Movie night was most definitely...interesting to say the least, but over all more fun than any movie night Lou had ever had. It was surprisingly easy to get comfortable with a pair of magic skeleton monsters. Sometimes Papyrus would ask questions about a certain part or about something they said or did. Sans asked too, though his were a little more to clarify than anything.

Corpse Bride was pretty good, but it had been so long that Lou forgot how...odd it might be to the bros. They enjoyed the music, Papyrus getting a little nostalgic because of all the snow. The part when they were underground also seemed to bring back a few memories, as well as the bar. Whether those were good or bad, she couldn't tell. Until the part with the skeleton band. They weren't very thrilled there. Pap's jaw dropped and Sans just stared with a blank expression, eyes going dark.

"I thought you said this was a family movie!"

"It...is?" She tilted her head and rubbed her neck. "I forgot that the skeletons did that...is...it bad? It happens all the time when skeletons come up in shows and movies."

"well can you take your head off, throw it around, then put it back on?"

"N-no..."

"same thing for us. we may not have flesh and muscle to keep them together, but we can't really remove them like that either." Sans shrugged, regaining a bit of his composure, but obviously still a little rattled. He raised a hand and wiggled his phalanges as if to partially prove a point.

"S-sorry...I haven't seen this in a long time...p-plus technically these guys aren't monsters. They're dead. I-I know that doesn't make it better, but...I-I dunno, I'm sorry. Should we turn it off and watch something else?" She shifted to get up, but was held down by both of them. The girl looked at them, confused.

"Just because it's a little uncomfortable doesn't mean we don't still want to see how it ends!" Papyrus smiled at her. "After all, this isn't real! ...right?" He relaxed after she nodded, and they resumed watching. Both of them hated Lord Barkus, or as Lou called him, Lord Butt-kiss.

Sans couldn't help but glance at Lou, then Papyrus as the main character got closer to the corpse woman he'd accidentally married. Papyrus seemed to be having similar thoughts, because he'd done the same and blushed a little as he got caught by his brother. The scene where the dead came up to the surface for the wedding was just hilarious. It was also nice to see the humans accept the dead once they realized it was just their family. Paps cried a little at the end and Sans seemed satisfied with how the bad guy got what he deserved.

* * *

They loved Monsters Inc. and all laughed almost the entire time. Paps wasn't sure how to think about monsters scaring kids, but after Lou explained that it was probably based off of the common childhood fear of something lurking under the bed or in your closet, he nodded.

"They're not bad, it's just the only thing they know to do in order to get all of their stuff to run." She pointed to the canisters they used. "See, their electricity runs on children screams...probably because scaring an adult would be too dangerous and hard."

"Why is it hard?"

"I dunno, maybe because as kids we believed things like monsters were real and that they were trying to hurt us, but as adults that idea is usually outgrown and it's not as easy to scare them." She leaned against the skeleton, giving him a hug. "Of course now that we know you guys really are real, it's not hard to see that you're just big teddy bears!" The girl giggled, earning a blush and a small laugh from him.

"Though I, the Great Papyrus, can assure you that I am the fiercest of warriors...I am glad you feel that way human." He hugged her back before getting a sly grin and tickling her sides. "Ha ha! You have fallen into my tickle trap! There is no escape for you now, human!"

"EEEE!" She squealed, curling up to avoid his fingers.

"Sans! Quick! The human is trying to escape! I require assistance!"

"heh, sure thing, bro." He set his popcorn aside and joined in, movie temporarily forgotten for the tickle attack on their roommate. Mostly he just made it easier for Papyrus to tickle her himself, but he then saw an opening. Her shirt had managed to ride up a little, revealing her stomach. It was small, had a belly buttom that went inwards, and...was that a little dark spot next to it? She had a little mole, a beauty mark, on her stomach to the left of the belly button. It was adorable. He grinned, pressing his face onto the flesh before blowing.

 ** _Pfffffbbbtt!_**

Through her fit of giggling laughter, Lou let out another high-pitch screech of laughter, squirming to get free as he did it again. "I-I yeild! I surrender-hehe! St-stop! Mercy!" She squealed and laughed, laying back in the fort as her giggled slowed and the tickles stopped. Her breathe was heavy as the two skeletons looked at her with big grins on their skulls. "Y-you...you guys are evil.." She raised a weak arm to lightly shove at their faces. They just laughed before helping her back up.

"If tickling you makes us evil, then we must be the most terrible super villains you have ever seen, human! Nyeh heh heh!" Papyrus winked, puffing out his chest proudly as she laughed again.

"aw come on, that was pretty good. at least now we know how to tickle more than just your funny bone." Sans quirked a boney brow at her while giving that coy grin of his.

"Speaking of, how did you do that?"

"do what?"

"The tummy thing." He seemed confused, glancing at his shirt. "Not that! My tummy! How did you do that? I thought you needed lips for that. You have teeth." She reached up and tapped where his upper lip might be, then pulled away. The bone there was kinda soft. Did he have lips after all?

"may not have lips kid, but the air still seemed to work." He rubbed her head. "let's just leave it at magic."

She huffed, sticking out her tongue before getting comfy again. Papyrus had to stiffle his groans everytime a pun or joke was made, rolling his eyes. It was obvious that he liked them though, he just kept smiling. The boys ended up loving the movie. The monsters were just everyday people, the bad guy got what was coming to him, the kid went home, and the monsters started making kids laugh instead of scaring them. That part made Papyrus pretty happy, especially with the added thing at the end where they got to see the kid again.

* * *

Lou was a bit wary to show them Nightmare Before Christmas after their reaction to Corpse Bride and the happy feelings left over from the last movie. She let them know that there would be bone removal a few times, as well as how the monsters here weren't technically monsters, but the creatures often associated with the holiday Halloween. She then had to explain Halloween. Apparently, they'd missed it both times since they'd been here for various reasons. Papyrus certainly seemed excited about it now though, which made her smile. Halloween was one of her favorite holidays. Costume ideas were already popping up in her head and they weren't even close to October!

Sans thought that Sally was pretty sweet, then glanced at Lou. For some reason, she reminded him of the human. Both were shy and quiet, both were nervous and had difficulty speaking up, a good sense of what was right and what was wrong. They both had courage in them that didn't get seen very much. He smiled, patting her head and getting Lou to look at him curiously.

Papyrus thought the little ghost dog was adorable, making a comment about how he wished a certain annoying dog back in Snowdin was more like him. He even got up and tried to sing along when Jack went to Christmas town. Of course, he then said that Santa wasn't human, but in fact a monster.

"Ooh, monster Santa sounds awesome! Do we still leave milk and cookies out for him?" Lou laughed, looking up when he finally came back.

Then came Sally's Song. Lou tried to be quiet, but couldn't help but sing along a bit as it played. "And will he see, how much he means to me? I think it's not to be..." The skeleton brothers stole looks at her, eyes widening a little. She knew every word, every part of the tune. Sans couldn't help but think the song fit her pretty well. It was sad, yes, but he had said before that she seemed to be quite shy around others. Papyrus might argue that she wasn't nearly as saddening, but something about the whole song did have an eerily familiar tone to it when the human sang along. Lou ended up hiding in her hood after the two skeletons started complimenting her as the song finished.

"Human! I didn't know you could sing! Wowie!" He grinned wide, trying to peek at her as she hid.

"yeah, kid. that was really good."

"Sh-shut up..."

"Why? Sans is right, it was very good human!" Papyrus pulled her into a big hug. "You should do a show with Mettaton!"

"OH MY GOD! Mettaton can never ever EVER know!" Her head shot up. "Never tell him, please! I would die of embarrassment!" Her face was red. Sans laughed and they agreed to keep their figurative-lips sealed.

* * *

Papyrus did not like Oogey Boogey. The big green bug sack scared him half to death and he ended up clinging to Lou whenever he showed up. The girl didn't laugh at him, but instead rubbed his arm and gently did her best to comfort him. "Hey, it's okay. I used to be scared of him too."

"H-how did you stop?" Paps looked down at her.

"Well for one thing he just got pulled apart and thrown into acid so he's not coming back. And secondly, he just...stopped being scary. I don't know. I realized that he wasn't worth being scared of at some point." She looked up at him. "Hey, don't worry. He's not real and you're way stronger than that bug-brain. Seriously, just get a pair of scissors or a match and he's toast." The human pulled his head down, giving him a soft kiss on his cheek. "You've got a lot of friends and a brother who love you very much, all of which would kick that guy's buggy butt to the moon and back to keep you safe."

Papyrus blushed bright orange from the kiss and her words, looking at her and Sans. "W-wowie...th-thank you, Lou." He gave her a big hug, Sans smiling softly next to them.

"totally, bro. we won't let anybody get ya."

"If he even tried I'd flip him into another pit of acid."

"OH MY GOD! HUMAN!"

"i'd help."

"SANS!"

* * *

So far movie night was proving to be a huge success. The happy endings of the first three movies left everyone with smiles and new topics to relate to. Next, seemed to be Lou's absolute favorite of them all. She practically bounced as they put it in. "Oh my gosh I haven't seen this movie in forever! I just wish I could show you the original english version."

"original?"

"Yeah, when the company got bought out they redid some of the voice acting. Not sure why, but it might have been something to do with old audio? Anyway, the voices are good but...on some of the emotional parts it just...doesn't match. Like the animation will show a super emotional crying scene but...the crying the voice actor used just...doesn't entirely fit. Not that it's too long or too short or is off by a few seconds or any of that, just that...I dunno, maybe I'm just attached because this right here is my freaking childhood man! My childhood! Studio Ghibli is my childhood!" She held up her hands at the TV, then flopped back onto Sans. She'd switched from Papyrus' lap, to Sans. He looked down at her, chuckling and resting his chin on her head as he wrapped his arms around her tiny form.

"dork."

"Yeah, but I'm your guys' dork." She popped some popcorn in her mouth and chewed as the movie started, not realizing that both skeletons had stiffened and her now staring at her with large glowing blushes on their faces. Instead, she bobbed her head side-to-side childishly as the opening music started. "Hey let's go~ Hey let's go! We're happy as ca-an be! Let's go walking you and me~!"

* * *

Both of them looked at her for a while, unable to decipher what she'd meant by that. Did it mean something? It didn't seem so, since she acted so casually about it. Humans were still a very new thing so...maybe this was a human thing? Then again, she did seem quite odd, even for humans. Maybe it was just a Lou thing then? Sans and Papyrus made eye contact, looked back down at the girl, then to each other. They silently agreed to discuss it at another time. Right now they were watching movies with Lou, and possibly making the whole thing awkward on a speculation was just not an option.

They tried to relax and pay attention to the movie. It was slowly paced, but a good slow. Everything had a good timing and wasn't rushed, but also wasn't drawn out for too long. The human children were adorable, making both of them laugh a little as they ran about the new house at the beginning of the movie. "hey, Lou. when is the Totoro guy gonna co-" A small hand came up and lightly pat his teeth.

"Shh...here." Lou pulled away and pointed, showing that the smallest human child had fallen down a hole after chasing two small rabbit-like things and was in front of a very large, furry creature. When the girl eventually climbed up and even lay on its stomach, Lou ended up leaning into Sans, resting against him a little more. She let out a small content sigh before folding her hands in her lap. Sans chuckled, rubbing her head.

Papyrus was having a hard time not awwing at how cute the whole thing was. The bus scene was one of his favorites. "It looks so soft and fluffy!" His eye sockets almost seemed to sparkle as the cat bus finally showed up.

"heh, i don't think they're getting that umbrella back though."

Papyrus became concerned when the little girl refused to stay away from her older sister for too long, heard the mom was sick, and then when the little girl even ran off. Sans flinched a little, also seeming a bit concerned but...slightly uncomfortable at the same time as the older girl ran around trying to find her younger sister. "Ah! Human! W-will the tiny human be okay?" He was unable to take his eye sockets off of the screen, growing even more worried as the search started and Lou remained silent. "H-human?"

"Watch, Papyrus. I-I don't wanna spoil it."

Sure enough, the movie ended on a happy note. Totoro and the cat bus saving the day. The two skeletons smiled as the girls were taken home safe and sound. Their human had a huge grin on her face and gave a tiny squeal at the very end. "Oh I haven't seen that movie in so long! It's so cute! Do you guys do movie night every week?"

"We try to. It's not always on the same day, but we try to do at least every once in a while." Papyrus smiled, looking at her before lightly stretching and getting up. "Well, we better clean up and get ready for bed."

"Can we sleep down here?"

"Huh?" Both of them looked at her, seeing her usual neutral expression become nervous and timid.

"P-please? None of us work tomorrow, a-and it'd be a shame to waste a perfectly good pillow fort like this..." She gave a nervous smile, a small blush covering her cheeks. "I-if it's okay?"

"Hmm...well it is a nice fort..." Papyrus thought a moment, before nodding. "Very well! we shall sleep down here tonight! But everyone still has to get ready for bed!"

"Yay!"

 **Author's note:** woo hoo! finally we got movie night! =D I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Oh, and friendly reminder, that poll on my page will be ending this Sunday night (PST)! I might see if I can post the results in the next chapter if you guys wanna see it. Again, it was just to sate my own curiosity...though admittedly doing it now may have made it a little biased due to the lack of interaction between Paps and Lou...welp! We'll just have to fix that, now won't we?


	15. Jog Boy

**Chapter 15: _Jog Boy_**

After everyone finished brushing their teeth and getting into their pajamas and whatnot, rather than go to their rooms like usual, the three of them rejoined at the pillow fort in the living room. Much like the first night and the night of the thunderstorm, Lou found herself comfortably squished between the two skeleton brothers. During the movies they'd mostly been sitting under the tent against the couch, but it had now been modified for them all to sleep comfortably underneath. Needless to say, everyone was enjoying this decision.

For a while, they all just talked about their work, the people they talked to and any problematic customers that had to be dealt with. After the fiasco that was Lou's first day, there was very little incident. Whether people were now afraid of the small new waitress or it was simply a good day, she wasn't sure. Sans told Papyrus about when Lou came up to him at the mall, making her blush bright red as the taller skeleton then looked at her and chidded her for encouraging jokes while Sans was working. She told them about her day with Undyne and Alphys, but left out the part about talking about the two beside her and of the dress they'd gotten her to buy. The fewer people who knew about it the better. Lord knew she'd probably have to deal with it next time she saw Mettaton. No doubt that robot probably already forced Alphys to show him the pictures. She also told them about meeting Napstablook and they were making plans to hang out soon.

"That sounds like a very good day, Lou! Hey, do you think that next time I can come too? Sans says I need to get some more...casual clothes." Papyrus gave her a little smile. "Though I, the Great Papyrus, am very fashionable, it would be nice to hear your opinion while picking things out."

She giggled. "Well I'm not the most fashionable person myself, but I would like to think I know how to pair things together well enough. Sure! Maybe in a few weeks though. If I'm going to go through another shopping spree I wanna make sure I don't have moths flying out of my wallet." The girl laughed, but got a confused look from her roommate.

"Why would there be moths in your wallet?"

"it's a figure of speech, bro. means the kid doesn't have any cash."

"Oh no! That's terrible, human!"

"Don't worry about it Papyrus, I'm not actually broke. I made sure to keep within my spending budget. There's a lot of nice stuff at that mall though, so I should probably make sure to save up if I end up going there again." She looked up at him. "We can compare work schedules and figure out a good day to go, alright?"

"Okay, Lou." He seemed satisfied by that answer.

* * *

The next day, Lou was awoken by slight movement beside her. When she opened her eyes, it was Sans grumbling at his cell phone. Papyrus was still asleep next to her, but she knew from experience that it wouldn't be for long. As usual, she was trapped in his arms anyway. Her attention returned to the other skeleton. "Something wrong?"

Sans flinched a little as he heard her voice, looking over with a guilty smile. He always seemed to smile, but she was getting better at figuring out which were genuine, fake, and which were just his resting expression. "oh, hey kiddo. i didn't wake you up, did i?" She gave him a small shake of her head. "alright, good. uh...it's just work."

"The hotdog place at the mall?" She rose a brow. The mall wouldn't be open this early.

"heh, no, other work. turns out some _**bone**_ head decided to skip today and they need me to fill in on my day off."

"Ouch, those always bite." She made a face.

"tell me about it." He sighed, mumbling something about having looked forward to today. "ah well, not like i can call in sick." The skeleton shrugged and lay back. "i still got some time to kill before i need to get ready, but looks like i'll have to leave you and Paps on your _**bone**_ some." He gave her a smile.

"Aw. _**Tibia**_ honest, it'll be _**bonely**_ without ya." She decided to join in on his jokes. Bone puns seemed to be his favorite.

Sans gave a light chuckle, about to retaliate with more puns when the figure on the other side of Lou sat up and groaned.

"It is way too early for you two to be making such jokes!" Papyrus gave them both a frown, rubbing at his eye sockets.

"Aw come on, Paps. I thought they were pretty _**humerous**_." Lou bit her lips to keep from smiling too much.

"That was terrible and you know it."

"Yeah, I know." Bone puns may be Sans favorite, but they certainly were not her forte.

* * *

After making breakfast and some coffee together, Sans had to get ready for work and leave. Looks like it would just be Lou and Papyrus for the day. Before he left, Lou caught him, handing him a bag that had 'LUNCH' scrawled on it in sharpie, then wished him a good day with a hug before letting the skeleton go. She stretched a little before turning to Papyrus. "So, what should we do today?"

Paps looked back at his human friend, then made a thoughtful face. It had been a while since he'd been home with Sans not there, and whenever Sans wasn't there he'd always been home alone before, but now he had a friend to spend the day with. "Hmm...well I haven't been able to go on my early morning run as much as I'd like this week. I might do that." He looked down at her, grinning a little wider. "Would you like to join me, Lou?"

"On a run?" She tilted her head. Back home she'd often ride her bike everywhere, but when moving out here it got smashed and walking wasn't exactly a huge push in the way of excercise. _Well, it's not terrible but it doesn't do nearly as much as a run probably would._ "Um...that does sound like fun. Should probably take my shower after we get home then." The girl gave him a large grin in return. "Sure! Just give me a sec to change. Going outside in my pajamas would be...pretty embarrassing." The girl quickly went upstairs to her room. When she came back down she had a thin, pink, long sleeve shirt over a black tank top with a pair of dark workout pants. Her eyes looked down at her clothes to make sure nothing was out of place before looking up, suddenly becoming confused at the look from Papyrus. "What?"

His cheeks were a bit orange as he looked down at her outfit. He'd never seen her in anything so...form fitting. He wore a pair of shorts, a crop top with the words JOG BOY on the front with a headband strapped over his skull. "Uh...a-are you sure that'll be warm enough? It's still cold out and you humans seem to get affected by it quite easily." No way was he going to say what really popped in his head. _Oh no, she looks hot._

Lou tugged at her shirt. It seemed to be for the cold outside. "Well...I know I'll get warmer as we go but...yeah, you're right. I'll grab a sweater just incase, okay? I can tie it around my waist or something." She left to grab that.

Paps had to force himself to not watch her go up. _Remember Papyrus, she is your dear friend and roommate. Such lewd thoughts and actions are highly innapropriate._ He shook his head, clearing his throat as she came back down. Her lavender jacket was tied around her waist.

"Better?"

"Hmm...almost." He pulled out another headband, forcing it over her head before fixing it on so that it pushed her bangs out of her face. He paused afterwards, stifling a smile and snickering. "Nyeh heh..."

Lou gave him an unimpressed look. "This is why I don't push my sunglasses up on my head anymore..." Her bangs were currently sticking up in a crazy looking style that should only be possible in cartoons and animes. She sighed as he was unable to hold back his laughter, then fixed it in a way where the bangs could stay underneath, but still keep her hair pushed to the side and out of her face. "There. Hey wait a second did you take a picture of that?!"

"Pfft, maybe?" He smiled, keeping his phone out of her reach. "I was thinking of sending it to Sans."

"Oh my god don't you dare!" She jumped, trying to grab his phone. "I'd never hear the end of it!" Again the small human jumped, trying to at least hook around his arm to pull it down. She succeeded...in hooking the arm at least. Instead, she just dangled over his humerus like someone might with an overly muscled man in those pictures online. Difference was, Papyrus didn't have biceps. Even without muscles, he was incredibly strong and easily able to hold her up.

He snickered, switching his phone to his other hand and taking another picture. Maybe he wouldn't send it to Sans, but Undyne and Alphys would probably get a kick out of this.

* * *

Undyne blinked as both hers and Alphys' phones dinged at the same time from getting a text. Upon opening them, it was a small group message from Papyrus addressed to her and Alphy only. In all caps was a simple message:

 _Papyrus: DO NOT SEND TO ANYONE ELSE! ESPECIALLY SANS!_

Underneath were two pictures of Lou in workout clothes, both a little grumpy. First had a headband with silly hair and a 'I swear I will shoot you' face, while the second was of her dangling from his arm trying to desperately get the phone from him. They both looked at each other with a small blush on their face.

"I ship it!" Undyne grinned wide.

"I-I still think her and Sans make a better match!" Alphys sputtered, blushing furiously as the two threw out different reasons for their new ships.

* * *

Papyrus laughed as Lou soon gave up, but only after he'd promised to not send it to Sans. He'd never said anything about making it her new contact photo though. "Well, now that we are ready, shall we get going on our run now?" He put his hands on his hips and grinned wide at her.

"Heh, okay. I have some waters incase we get thirsty." She wasn't exactly sure if skeletons neded to hydrate, but it was a nice thought anyway.

He tried his best to not run or at least to take slightly smaller steps as they went. He was able to keep up a nice jog, but upon looking back he saw that Lou had to do a bit more of a run to keep up. She wasn't exactly running, but her legs weren't moving in a way that said jogging either. They stretched out as much as she could, taking longer strides to keep pace while not over exerting herself too much...or at least attempting to. "Do you need me to slow down, human?"

Lou looked up at him, blushing a little. Or maybe that was from the excercise? "Huh? Oh no, I'm good." She smiled. "This is actually pretty nice! Normally I'd probably be listening to loud music on my phone or something on my own, but doing this with you is way better!" The human did a few long strides... _Had her legs always been that long?_ It was a little hard to tell under all of her jackets and pants. She managed to keep a pace right beside him. "Ta-daa! See? It's not so bad."

Papyrus gave her a wide grin. "Nyeh heh heh! Not bad, human! But I, the Great Papyrus, have been going easy on you so far! Do you think you are ready for the next level?" His motivation flared at the thought of giving her a challenge.

Her expression showed mild shock, but then she got a cocky grin. "Heck yeah! Bring it, bone boy!"

* * *

"Human? A-are you alright? Did I go too hard on you?" The skeleton was leaning over the human as she lay back in the grass at a park, breathing heavily on the ground. After a makeshift obstacle course using the playground and just about anything else they could find on the way there, the two had a race to see who was faster. Papyrus had the advantage of long legs and higher stamina, making him the easy winner. Lou was small and quick, but her stamina wasn't the best and she ended up tripping onto her face right before rolling onto her back and staring at the clouds.

She looked at him, cracking a smile and giving him a thumbs up. "Heh, nah. I'm all good, see? Just a bit tired." The human sighed, patting the ground next to her as an invite to sit. "I need to work out more, this is pathetic. Ha ha ha!" She laughed a little.

Papyrus sat next to her, offering one of the water bottles she brought. "I think you did pretty well, human! You lasted longer than I expected." He chuckled as she stuck her tongue out at him, then sat up to drink. "If you like, I can take you with me whenever I do my morning runs. They could be a good work out for you. We can work together on building up your endurance!" His smile widened as he felt himself filled with determination. "It can be like training!"

Lou glanced at him, capping the bottle. "You sure I won't just slow you down? I mean you did see that you practically just lapped me back there like...five times." His expression didn't change and she sighed. "Alright, alright. That does sound pretty nice." She held up a hand at him. "Deal."

He grinned even more and accepted her hand. "Nyeh heh heh!"

 **Author's Note:** Poll is closed, votes aree in! Sans wins (honestly I probably should have known with the lack of Paps interaction), with both coming in second and Paps coming in last. Poor Paps. Hopefully when I next do a poll (because I plan to do another much later down the road, again for curiosity's sake) it won't be so interaction biased. Oops! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this Paps chap.


	16. Walk

**Chapter 16:** ** _Walk_**

On the way back home Papyrus suggested they grab something at a nearby café, pointing at a building with the word Muffet's Spider Café in big letters. Lou looked at him a moment, raising a brow. They'd already had breakfast and it was still a little too early for lunch. She was a bit sweaty and she was sure her face was a bit red from all of the running he'd had her do and the cold that was numbing the tip of her nose. "Um...sure, why not. I've been meaning to come here anyway." The human shrugged, following the skeleton inside. She was a little too tired to overthink her current wardrobe.

The spider woman behind the counter gave a big smile as the small bell chimed and the two stepped through the doors. "Welcome~! Oh! Hello, Papyrus. I haven't seen you in here for a while. How have you been?" She looked at the two happily. The small café had a decent mix as far as humans and monsters. Most of which were sipping drinks while doing something on a computer or reading, maybe munching on a donut or some kind of croissants. Truthfully, it was usually only a handful of jerks that actually disliked monsters living among them. Nine times out of ten, people either didn't care or were happy that they all were relatively friendly.

Papyrus gave the spider a friendly smile as he walked up to the counter, Lou following close behind him. "Hello, Muffet! I've been doing quite well, thank you. I've been a bit busy at work the past few days. I was finally able to take my run again today!"

Muffet smiled up at the skeleton. He seemed to be very tall even amongst monsters. Metta, Undyne, and Toriel seemed to have him beat so far though. "Oh good! It's good to hear you're well." Her eyes fell on the human behind him, who quickly moved the hair under the headband to cover her eyes like usual. "Who's your new friend?" The spider's voice was cheerful and friendly enough, but didn't put the girl at ease.

"This is mine and Sans' new roommate, Lou!" He stepped back and pushed the girl in front of him. "She recently started working at Grillby's. Personally I can't say I approve of the greasy food still, but she seems to be doing well over there and Grillby certainly likes her, so I guess I'll let it slide! Nyeh heh heh!"

Lou looked at the spider woman from under her bangs nervously, lifting a hand to lightly wave. "H-hello. N-nice to meet you..."

"Nice to meet you as well. No need to worry dear, I don't bite." She gave a fanged grin.

"H-huh?"

"You humans sure do get nervous around us spiders pretty easily. It's okay." Muffet waved it off.

"O-oh! Th-that's not it at all!" The spider looked at her curiously. "I-I just get um...nervous around new people...i-if not for P-Paps I probably wouldn't even be talking at all..." Lou looked down at her hands and fiddled with a loose thread that had suddenly become veeery interesting. "I-I really like spiders actually. M-my teacher in middle school even l-let me take home the class tarantula once during break while they were a-away. A-and I have a purple spider toy at home. It um...never leaves my bed...unless I-I go on a sleepover..." Her cheeks turned a bit red, wishing she could shut up. Why did she always have to talk too much or too little?

"You mean that fluffy one you told Sans to stop throwing in the air when you moved in? What was it called...Fluffers?" Papyrus tilted his head in thought. His attempts to help only made her face burn brighter.

"N-no, it's uh...Fwuffers...l-like if you're using baby talk..." _Oh god shut up!_ Her hands went up to pull her hood over her head but found nothing but air. Right, she wasn't wearing her hoodie. _Shit shit shit..._

Muffet broke her thoughts as she let out a happy giggle. "Hahaha, how adorable! Well then, I must apologize for my assumption. I'm glad to hear you actually like us." She smiled, then stood from where she was leaning over the counter. "Now, what can I get you two today?"

"I'll have some Spider Cider. Lou?" The skeleton looked down at his flustered friend, who was still grasping at thin air over her shoulders.

She paused, hands slowly lowering. "C-cider...p-please."

"Coming right up!"

Papyrus reached into his pocket to pay, but by the time he got it out Lou had already done it herself. "Human?"

Lou looked back at him, giving a small smile. "W-what? You took me running, so I pay for the cider!"

"But...-"

"No buts."

* * *

Papyrus had pouted for a moment at not being allowed to help pay, but quickly went back to his usual cheerful self and ended up doing the tip when Lou wasn't looking. They took the drinks to-go, taking sips of the warm beverage as they walked. The heat from working out earlier was beginning to wear off, so Lou had put her jacket on about halfway there. Now that it was just the two of them again, her nervousness seemed to dissipate.

"Lou? If it's alright that I ask...why do you get so nervous whenever we go out?" He looked down in her direction, but was unable to see the look on her face. "I just notice that whenever you're home or alone with Sans and I you seem to be just fine. Hardly any stuttering, you always have that little smile on your face, and you bounce a little sometimes when you walk. But whenever we go out with other people or you meet someone new I notice you...don't do all of those things. I...I just want to know if there might be something I can do? You are my dear friend and our roommate and I just want to make sure I'm doing my best to make sure you're having a good time...that...we haven't done anything wrong?"

For a moment Lou was quiet, silently listening as he spoke. It was a bit embarrassing and almost flattering that he paid so much attention to little details like that, but she felt it was...unnecessary. She looked in his direction but not quite at him, and took his free hand in hers. "You already do, Papyrus. I...don't really know how or if I even can explain why I get nervous in public..." She was being vague again. Whether it was because she really didn't know or didn't want to talk about it wasn't clear. "B-but just know that you and Sans just...being nearby? I-it does a lot. I don't normally warm up to people this quickly a-and I can't begin to explain why it's different with the two of you but...you guys make me feel like everything will be okay." As she peeked up at him through her hair she noticed a small blush on his cheeks and a gentle, understanding smile. "S-so I guess...thanks, f-for being my friends and all."

"You are our human." He smiled, giving her hand a small squeeze. "And apparently, our dork as well." The skeleton lightly jabbed her shoulder with his elbow, getting her to laugh and blush bright red. _I said that last night, didn't I? Craaaaap..._

"Hehe! Does that make you two my monsters, or my skeletons?"

"Hmm...I'm not sure..." Paps actually seemed to be taking the comment seriously.

"I think I'll stick with friends. Calling you my monsters or my skeletons feels a little weird to say." She turned to look ahead, not letting go of his hand the whole way home. _Though maybe...I can call you my skelebros. In my head anyway._

* * *

Papyrus let Lou take the first shower, waiting downstairs until she was done before taking his turn. He was a little surprised when he got out and saw her wearing something...different. Normally, she always wore some kind of long sleeve or t-shirt with a pair of jeans and a jacket with sneakers. But right now...she wasn't wearing that. The main thing he noticed, was she was wearing a skirt. He'd only ever seen her in jeans and those work out pants from earlier. She wasn't wearing any shoes, but being inside she didn't really need to. "Uhh..."

Lou was brushing her skirt down when she looked up at Papyrus, still wearing nothing but a towel around his waist with another draped over his shoulders. Her face turned bright red. Sure she'd seen plenty of skeletons before in biology and other science or health classes before, but somehow it being Papyrus...felt weird. "Ah!" She quickly covered her eyes to keep from staring at his rib cage. It was broad, very wide for the average human skeleton. Then again, they weren't exactly average or human, were they? There had also been something glowing there but she'd already covered her eyes before it could register what that might have been. "I-I am so sorry! I swear I didn't see anything!" She turned to flee back into her room, but missed the open door and smacked into the wall.

Paps flinched when she collided with the wall, stretching out an arm and taking a step to make sure she was okay. She didn't even notice, just held up a hand to feel for the opening before dashing inside and shutting the door. He blinked, very confused. Shouldn't he be the flustered one? He'd seen her in a skirt for the first time and all he'd said was uhh. He sighed, smacking his hand to his blushing face. "Stupid..." His gaze then dropped to what he currently had on. Then, it clicked. "Oh."

* * *

Lou slumped against her door as she tried to hide her blush in her sleeves. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. What the hell is wrong with me?" She peeked up, looking towards her window. "Whyyyyyy?" Why did a freaking skeleton make her so damn flustered? Actually, two skeletons, not one. She dropped her forehead onto her knees and lightly groaned. "I am not doing this. Not right now..." The girl lifted her head a little to stare at the ground.

Her mind wandered, but kept going back to those two goofy skeletons. She shook her head, sighing and leaning against her door, now looking at the ceiling. "Too soon, Lou. You know what happened last time..."

She closed her eyes, breathing steadily. The blush on her cheeks died down and she tried to distract herself with other things...anything! But...something felt weird. Her eyes opened and she looked to her bed. Then, she could swear she saw something out of the corner of her eye. When she turned to look though, there was nothing. "Huh?" Lou got up, about to investigate when a knock sounded on her door. "Yeah?"

"Human? A-are you alright? I'm sorry if I um...embarrassed you or anything before." Papyrus' nervous voice came rather clearly through the other side.

Giving up on whatever she thought she saw, the human turned around and opened the door, finding Papyrus in casual clothes. He wore a dark t-shirt with a skull and some roses with thorns and vines curled around. Instead of his usual work pants he was wearing skinny jeans, which easily passed for regular pants on his long, bone legs. Around his neck of course, was his same bright red scarf-cape thing. "It's okay, Paps. Y-you didn't embarrass me or anything, just caught me a little off guard. I like your outfit by the way."

"Thank you, human! I like yours as well. I didn't know you wore skirts. They look good on you."

"Th-thanks!" She followed Paps out of her room and down the stairs. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched, but each time she looked back at her room, there was nothing there.

 **Author's Note:** Yeah, my titles suck right now. I wanted to call it Muffet's but...it wasn't really that big of an impact or anything. I just like the idea of Paps being a regular during his runs or on his breaks from work at the little cafe. Blame Underswap for that little headcanon. See you guys later!


	17. Puzzle Day

**Chapter 17: _Puzzle Day_**

Lou tried to shake off that feeling of being watched. She'd felt that more than enough times when she was alone and it had always been nothing, just paranoia and nerves playing tricks on her. Same with shadows in the corner. With a light sigh she shook her head, then looked to Papyrus...who had started staring at her. "What?"

He flinched slightly, blinking and now looking at her face, which was easy to see now with the hairband in her hair. It helped keep her hair out of her face, while not looking too ridiculous...she hoped. "N-nyeh? Oh, s-sorry human. I...just noticed that you looked very nice today. I haven't seen you in clothes like that before. Is there something special going on today that I should know about?"

His words caused her to look back down at her clothes. She was wearing a pastel, light blue turtleneck shirt with a blue heart on the front that looked like it was dripping paint or...something of the same blue color that faded into a darker shade the further down it went. The hairband in her hair had pink and blue flowers wrapped around it, all fake of course. Unlike her usual jeans, she decided to wear a short skirt. It was pastel pink, to go with the flowers and the pastel theme she had going for today and puffed out a little when she sat down. Her legs were covered up with black and white striped stockings. There were no shoes on her feet since they were inside, but she probably would have finished it off with either her black combat boots or her usual pair of sneakers. Whenever she wore something cute, her mother and sister always complained that she needed good shoes to match, but more often than not she 'ruined it' with her usual comfy flair. Well...unless it was a special occasion, then she'd wear flats or short heels. "Oh! N-no, sorry! I...just kinda felt like wearing something different today. Should...sh-should I go change?"

"No!" Papyrus sat up a little straighter from his spot on the couch beside her, hands up. His sudden outburst caused her to jump a little as well, eyes widening. "Ahem...n-no, you are fine, Lou. I just...haven't seen you in clothing like that before and have heard that humans often dress up for certain occassions. I wasn't sure if that was true or not because I have seen many humans dressed up for simple things like going to the store or even when going to school, so after meeting you I...thought that...maybe..." He started to trail off, as if unsure of what to say or how to say it.

Lou just smiled up at him, reaching her hand to his face before gently patting his cheek. "It's okay, Papyrus. I get what you mean. Some humans do like dressing up all the time, but most usually save their better clothes for certain events like a wedding or maybe special parties and dinners. I like wearing things that make me comfortable." The human got up, doing a few small twirls for the skeleton to show off her outfit before stopping and looking at him, a warm smile on her face. "I don't normally wear clothes like this to be honest. I...kinda was thinking of changing that though? A-after hanging out with the girls yesterday..." Her smile became more awkward and her eyes looked to her hands.

"I um...don't really have a lot of confidence, incase you haven't noticed already. I get nervous and self concious and I hide. I like t-shirts with super heroes on them. I like jeans that might be a little long on me that drag on the ground and get ripped at the edges over time. I like dark clothes and things that most people would probably consider gothic or...punk? I like sweaters and jackets that are too big for me and that I could honestly probably use as a blanket if I really wanted to." She laughed a bit, a nervous laugh that was an obvious attempt at pushing away whatever feelings she might currently have over this topic. "But...I-I also like cute things with bright colors like this. I like wearing stripes and skirts that flare out when I spin. I like things with flowers on them and wings. I...I-I dunno, I just...don't know how to look for those things or what to do about them. Every time before whenever I'd get anything cute like this I'd wear it every once in a blue moon and probably never touch it for...who even knows how long. I'd always fall back on my default of oversized dark clothing that I can hide in...that I can use to just fade into the background where no one can see me and I can go unnoticed..." Lou let out a breathe she didn't know she'd been holding, staring blankly at her hands as they interlocked fingers, released, then interlocked over and over again. "I...kinda want to try and get out of that? I can almost guarantee that I'd probably just go back to my default eventually but...I still sorta wanna try? M-maybe? I dunno..." Her body started hunching over itself, trying to curl away and look small, to hide like she always did. Whatever small boost of confidence she'd just had was starting to fade away.

* * *

Papyrus watched her as she talked and had gotten up. At first he was in awe, a little proud of her for showing some confidence and stepping out of her shell, but then she started stuttering again. He could almost see the light she'd had a moment before starting to go out as she looked away and slouched, her legs bending together and her hands starting to nervously fidget and shake. He got up, barely taking a full step to close the gap before pulling her into a warm embrace. Because she was so small compared to him he ended up just picking her up bridal style, but he used his grip around her to hold her close to his chest. His head lowered to press his forehead to the top of her head. "It's okay."

Her body shook a little as she curled against him, maybe crying. Her arms went around his neck, her face hiding in his shirt but he didn't mind, just went back to the couch and sat. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry..."

"It's okay..." The skeleton held her close to his chest, sighing softly into her hair. "I know you're not very confident around others, and I have noticed that you do get very nervous when other people come around. I haven't known you very long so I don't understand why or what might have happened to make you feel that way, but you don't have to be nervous about wanting to change." He lifted his head, chin now resting where his forehead had been. "It's okay to like dark things and cute things. I don't think that's so bad. Look at Undyne! She was captain of the Royal Guard back when we were underground and she loves anime! She also loves to suplex boulders and cool things, but that's not a bad thing, is it?"

Lou shook her head a little.

"Exactly! And there's nothing wrong with your other clothes either! I think you look very cute and pretty in both, and I'm sure everyone else would agree! If you like I, the Great Papyrus, will help you with wearing more cute clothes. Mettaton would probably love to help you on that too! He's very fashion forward and I'm sure he could help find things that you like and that look nice. We already know that Alphys and Undyne would help you too! I'm not sure how much help Sans would be...but he'd probably help out as well. Maybe. He is very lazy after all." That got her to laugh a little. "What I am trying to say, is that no matter what you do we are still your friends." He put his hands under her arms and pulled her away so he could hold her up and look at her. It seemed like she'd started to cry a little, but was already looking a little better. "You look very beautiful right now, human. The colors all match well and you seem to know what you're doing just fine. If it's confidence you need, I'll take care of that. I'll have confidence for the both of us, so don't be sad or feel bad about any of this, alright?"

"O-okay." She brought up a hand and wiped away some of the tears.

"Are you feeling better now, human?"

"Uh huh."

"Good. Now, it's almost lunch. Would you like me to make my special spaghetti to make you feel even better?"

She laughed a little, using both hands to wipe away whatever liquid was left on her face, sniffling a little too. "Heh, that would be nice. C-can I help?"

"Of course! But you will need an apron. I do not want you getting your new cute clothes dirty." When she giggled and nodded, he smiled, tucking her under his arm and heading to the kitchen. He could hear and feel her giggling even more at being carried like that.

* * *

After spaghetti for lunch, the two sat down and turned on the TV. For a little while they watched Papyrus' favorite shows on the MTT channel, just about everything starring Mettaton and other monsters. The robot was still the main focus of the channel and most shows, but since coming to the surface, started doing a few more shows involving other monsters as well as humans. There was even a popular new teen drama about a monster and human couple at some high school. Lou found it to be much like a lot of overdone teen drama shows, but tuned in every now and then on days when she was bored or nothing was on.

At one point they started flipping through what else was on TV and found some cartoons that Lou liked to watch. One was a show Papyrus found interesting called Gravity Falls.

"Human, what is this show about? It is very...interesting. And what is it with that strange yellow triangle?"

"Oh! Well..." Lou started to explain what she could without spoiling it. How these twins were spending the summer with their great uncle, or Gruncle as everyone called him, in this strange town with all these mysteries and supernatural things. When she got to the part about the codes and puzzles hidden throughout the show he got especially interested, insisting that they watch the whole thing. She smiled wide. "Guess I shouldn't tell you this is the last season then, huh?"

"WHAT?!" Papyrus looked at her.

"The show is ending next month. I was gonna rewatch the series to see if I could find any clues before the final episodes. I've never been good at codes though so for those I just go to Youtu-"

"Nonsense! I, the Great Papyrus, am a master of puzzles! We must do this right! Human, I will rewatch the show with you and we shall solve every puzzle! Nyeh heh heh!"

* * *

The rest of the day was then taken up with watching a children's cartoon and solving any and all puzzles that they could find. Lou looked up the codes she knew were used through each part of the two seasons, but let Papyrus do the solving. It was admittedly much more fun to solve these on your own than to let someone else tell you themselves. They'd managed to get to the middle of season 1 when Sans finally came home.

"hey bro, kiddo. hope you guys didn't miss me too mu-...what?" Sans blinked, staring at the living room. There was paper everywhere. On Demand was on the TV to some cartoon he'd never seen before with two kids running around some forest, his brother and Lou were watching intently on the floor, the pillow fort being used once again as some kind of base of operations. "did I miss something?" He rose a brow, picking up one of the papers, seeing it was some kind of deciphered code.

"Sans!" Papyrus turned to his brother, a big smile on his face and a light in his eyes that only ever showed up when puzzles were present. "The human showed me this human cartoon called Gravity Falls! It has puzzles and codes! She said it's ending some time next month which is upsetting...but I plan to solve every single mystery and puzzle so far! Nyeh heh heh!" He turned back to the show.

Lou looked at him, a small blush on her cheeks as she waved. "S-sorry about the mess. He said he wants to keep the codes for future ideas? Not sure what that means, but I'll give him one of my spare binders to keep it all in, I-I promise."

Sans looked her over a moment, taking in her outfit. His cheeks turned a little blue. how does she keep getting so cute? what the hell? "heh, don't sweat it kid. Paps sure loves his puzzles." He smiled, coming over and sitting next to them. "thanks for lunch, by the way."

"No problem." Lou smiled. "Wanna join us for the madness? It's got a lot of sciencey stuff. Papyrus said you're pretty into science."

"did he?" Sans glanced at his brother. "well, he's not lying. sure, why not?"

"Sweet!" Lou looked at the screen again. "Maybe I should make a Mabel cosplay. I always liked Mabel."

"which one's Mabel?"

 **Author's Note:** Hey guys! Just wanted to let you know school's been getting pretty...well I'm just getting pretty tired out. I'll still be writing up chapters and posting them each week, but I'm going to have to revise my posting schedule a bit. Not sure if I can do Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday anymore. I'm gonna see how just Tuesdays and Thursdays do for a while, so next chapter will be posted Tuesday, not Sunday night. Have a nice day, guys!


	18. Blook House

**Author's Note:** To sort of not start droning on and make it a little easier to make the story move along more, I decided to do a time jump of about...a month or so. It was early January in the past chapters, but here I'm skipping to somewhere in March. Sorry! No Valentines this time around! (though I may make a mention or flashback of it?)

 **Chapter 18: _Blook House_**

It had been at least two months since first moving in with two skeletons. Once school started up, balancing her work and school work got a little hectic for a while. Paps' cooking was getting better, with a little help from Lou and some shows on TV. Sans often helped her with her homework and visited her at work...well, just about as much as he usually went there, which was a lot. Occasionally, she even scolded him for almost skipping a shift or being late. Napstablook, or Blooky as she called him, came over a lot. They had yet to actually go over his house, but the two had quickly become what Undyne referred to as 'ultimate besties'. Sometimes at school, she'd meet up with him after classes and they'd go to Muffet's for cider and to listen to music or make a few mixes on her computer, before sending what they did make to his e-mail. Alphys and Undyne were...sometimes a handful. They were great as girl friends, but lately most of the time when hanging out they'd bombard the poor human with questions about how she was doing and what was going on with her roommates, leaving her a blushing mess before getting back to the actual reasons for hanging out. Their main passtime was watching different animes or cartoons that the monsters were interested in or that Lou had mentioned. So far Teen Titans and Miraculous Ladybug were a pretty big success. Undyne was loving the different Transformers shows too.

The feeling of being watched...hadn't gone away. For a while she felt it mostly in her room when she was alone. Any time she looked though, there was nothing. Well...not at first, but we'll get to that later.

* * *

Life had slowly settled into its own strange rhythm again, and anyone who paid attention to it could see that the brothers and their human roommate only got closer with each passing day.

Lou stopped by the house after school, moving quickly past Sans on the couch as she headed up to her room.

"hey there, kiddo. i miss something?" He rose a brow, watching her disappear behind the door. After a few minutes she came down in a different outfit, her backpack seeming a bit lighter without the load of books she always had to lug around. Usually when she got home she'd be so tired she'd just drop her bag and flop on the couch next to him, only groaning as an answer to any questions he might ask. It happened so much in fact, that he'd already been able to figure out what each moan and groan meant...well most of them anyway.

"Hey Sans! Sorry, I was just grabbing a change of clothes and dropping off my stuff. I'm going over Blooky's today to hang out. I'll try to be home around dinner, okay? Tell Paps not to wait up, I can just heat up the leftovers." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before rushing to the door. "Bye~!"

The skeleton blushed a little as he watched her go. He wasn't sure he'd ever get used to that. She always kissed him and Paps on the cheek. Well, not always as in often, just whenever she did it was either the cheek or the head. Once she kissed Papyrus on the chin because she couldn't reach anything else at the time and he wasn't paying attention enough to lean down for her. His brow knit together a moment. Now that he thought about it, they were the only two she did that to. Sure she'd kissed Undyne and Alphys, but that was always on their head or temple, maybe the nose if she missed. Even Blooky only ever got kisses on the top of his head and they were best friends. All of their other friends got head kisses, so why were they the only ones to get them on the cheek? The kisses always seemed innocent enough. Some parts in human culture even said that in some parts of the world humans kissed to greet friends, so he always figured it was her way of showing affection. _so why are we so different?_ His cheeks only burned brighter as he continued to ponder why.

* * *

Lou smiled as Napstablook opened the door, waving politely to him. "Hi Blooky! I-I'm not late, am I?"

The little ghost smiled at the sight of his friend. "N-no! You're a bit early actually. N-not that it's bad! ...oh no, did I upset you? I-it's really not bad...I-" He was interrupted by a hug and a small kiss to the top of his head from his human friend, moving aside as she finally released him to let her in.

"I'm not upset. I just don't want to be bothering you or anything by coming too late or too early is all." Her friend seemed to worry a lot about things like that, so every chance she got she made sure he knew everything was okay.

"O-oh, good. I don't mind you being early...i-it just means we have more time to hang out...right?" Blooky shut the door behind her, letting her look around and remove her shoes. The custom to take off ones shoes when at someone's house was still odd to him, but she did it whether she was at home or at a friends so he didn't bother saying she didn't have to. Her shoes were always off to the side in a spot that she could not only remember but also to be out of the way for anyone else coming in. "This is your first time over...s-so let me show you around." He lead her around. He shared the home with his cousin, Hapstablook, who now preferred to go by Mettaton. Their other cousin mostly stayed at the gym where he worked, yelling at people to hit the dummy he possessed to let out their aggression and such. He heard it was going quite well. Lou made polite comments about the furniture and layout of the large house, making the ghost smile. She was always so nice and polite. Well...unless he counted that time someone picked on him at her school.

 **. . .**

Napstablook often met up with Lou outside when she got out of some of her classes, and one of those times some of the locals who...weren't exactly fond of their new neighbors, decided to pick on the small ghost. Just when he'd been about to simply fade away and go home, Lou showed up. He'd never seen her angry before. It was a bit scary when she punched the largest man first, yelling at the others.

"Come on! Which one of you's next? You wanna pick on him, you go through me. Come on! Hit me, you little bitch!" Lou seemed like she was already upset, probably a bit of fatigue from her Stats class. Word problems always tested her patience, so coming out to see her best friend getting picked on by humans must have been the last straw for her to snap so quickly.

One of the others actually did...or at least tried. She deflected his fist with what looked like a light tap of her hand but must have used much more force than that with how fast both of them moved. With her other hand the human then struck with her fist in a quick punch to the face. Napstablook had hardly even had time to register the movement, only seeing the man recoil and hold his bleeding nose. They called her a crazy bitch and a monster lover before running off, not waiting for another hit from the tiny girl, when she turned back to him. The second she looked at him her face switched from anger to worry, looking him over and asking if he was okay. He was a ghost and she was a human with an actual body to hurt, but she was asking if _he_ was okay! _Him_! She'd shown no sign of even thinking about checking herself for injuries.

 **. . .**

There was still a small wrap around her hand, hidden under a pair of fingerless gloves. Deflecting the man's punch must have bruised or something, but he couldn't be sure what. He didn't know anything about human injuries. It was still a little frightening to think of, but he was grateful to have a friend who would stick up for him like that. Mettaton had certainly been...semi-thrilled when he heard of it. Upset that his precious Blooky had been threatened, but also ecstatic that his cousin's newest best friend had gone so far to make sure he was safe.

"So this is your room?"

He snapped out of his thoughts as they got to his bedroom. "Y-yeah...Mettaton thinks I should do something more with it but...-"

"I kinda like it. It's simple, comfortable, and has your own style." She looked back at him and smiled.

"Y-you think so...?" He smiled a little bigger. It wasn't much, but it was obvious this wasn't his cousin's room. There was a shelf for his CDs and mix tapes, a keyboard in the corner of the room, a desk with his computer and headphones. He didn't need a bed, but he did have a small coat rack for his hats and some bean bags around for guests to sit on. There was a poster on a wall of a band he liked, then a small framed picture of him and his cousins.

"Totally!" She took a seat on a bean bag after moving it by his computer. "I'm still working on my room back home, but yours looks nice."

"S-speaking of which, how are things with Sans and Papyrus? I-if you don't mind my asking...oh...I-I shouldn't butt in..."

"Don't sweat it Blooky. Come 'ere." She held up her arms to him, signaling that he was getting hugs.

The ghost floated next to her, getting pulled close before being hugged like a teddy bear. Why she did this he was never entirely sure, but it felt nice.

"Jam session before Ton-ton gets home?"

"Ton...ton?"

"New nickname for Mettaton I'm trying out. It's different from Metta, which almost everyone seems to use, but I still think it sounds too baby-ish."

"I see. Y-yeah, let's do that..."

* * *

Lou and Blooky were listening to the new track when a loud voice filled the home. Mettaton must be back.

"Oh Blooky, darling~ I'm hoooome!" The robot made his way to the room, in his rectangular body, when he paused to find the two sitting in front of the computer each with a pair of headphones on their heads. "Lou darling! Oh I didn't know you were coming by today, Blooky why didn't you tell me she was coming over, darling?" He came in and wrapped the girl in a big hug with his flexible robotic arms. He always called her Lou darling, almost never just Lou. The nickname kind of reminded her of the Peter Pan fairytale.

"I-I wasn't sure if you'd be home before I left, so I told Napstablook it was okay to not tell you. I-I didn't wanna bother you or-"

"Nonsense! Oh I haven't seen you in ages, lovely! How have you been?" He gave her one last squeeze before setting her down, the lights on his box lighting up in different colors as he got a better look at her outfit. "Oh my goodness, darling. Let me get a look at you!" Mettaton backed up a little, making a motion for Lou to do a little twirl for him.

As promised, Papyrus had helped her to keep up in dressing cuter. He still let her have a cheat day of t-shirts and oversized jeans, but always at least insisted she wear one small cute thing every day. With his help, her confidence was already getting a little better. Even Grillby'd given her a few compliments when she came into work with a bow in her hair or a colorful skirt over her work pants.

Today, she wore something a little different for the warming weather. She had a plain blush pink t-shirt underneath a light sky blue tank-pullover-sweater like thing. She had no idea what it was called, just that it looked like one of those pullover sweaters but instead of long sleeves and a hood the upper part looked more like a tank top. There was a bass and treble cleft heart music note in a faded darker blue over the front of it. Under that, she had dark tan shorts that reached just above the middle of her thighs and looked rolled up at the ends. She wore pink-brown boots with a lighter pinky faux-fur trim around the top and some dark blue fingerless gloves to top it off. A small pink flower clip helped keep the hair out of her face on one side. "I-I've been trying to dress up a little more. P-Paps picked out the hair clip this morning before I left. W-what do you think?"

A round of applause came from his sound box and suddenly a shower of confetti fell over the human. _Where did the confetti come from?_ "Oh you look fabulous, darling! Such a lovely transformation! And we haven't even had our make over date yet! For shame." He made what seemed to be a form of wink before clasping his hands in front of him. "Oh we must meet up later this week and do that. As much as I'd love to today, you have plans with my darling cousin Blooky here."

"I-I don't mind you joining us..." Napstablook cut in, finally. "If you want to...w-we were just making a few new mixes with Lou's vo-" He paused, quickly shutting his mouth and becoming a bit flustered. The little ghost had promised his friend that he wouldn't tell his cousin about their hobby, knowing what might happen if he learned of it. "Um...w-with Lou's um...her um..." He stumbled desperately for something to cover it up.

"W-with my uh...volume er...sense! I...I'm really good at stuff with...volume?" Lou tried to help, and epicly failed.

"Hmm..." Mettaton looked at them suspiciously. "Can I hear what you have so far?" He came over, not waiting for a response to hit play.

The two watched him nervously as he listened to the mix his cousin and friend had made. When it got to the vocals, they both visibly winced. There was no way he'd miss it.

"Oh my...!" He snapped around to look at Lou. "Darling, why didn't you tell me you had such a lovely singing voice?!"


	19. Et tu, Blooky?

**Chapter 19:** ** _Et tu, Blooky?!_**

"No."

"Oh come on, Lou darling! You and Blooky could be famous!"

"I don't really wanna be famous."

"M-me neither...I like my small shows and playing at your parties..." Napstablook smiled meekly, staying close next to Lou. The human herself had her arms crossed over her chest as she huffed at the robot next to her.

"Well I suppose I can respect your wishes on that one, lovely..." The robot pouted. After learning about her voice and listening to a few more mixes, he'd had Lou help flip his switch so he could slip into a form that was more...comfortable for him. That, and having a face rather than a flashing screen was so much easier for him to communicate. Since being on the surface Alphys had given him a few more upgrades, making him able to stay in this body longer than his first time. He still had to charge more often, but he'd been assured that very soon he'd be able to keep this form permanently, maybe even switch back and forth at will if he so desired.

"Thank you."

"But I still want you to at least try it, just once."

Lou flinched, eye twitching and lips contorting into a slight grimace. She had a personal rule to at least try things. New food? Try it once, and if you don't like it you never had to eat it again. New music? Try it, and if you didn't like it then you didn't like it. Right now, that same rule was conflicting her decision. Sometimes she hated her rule. "I...I dunno...I don't like being in the spotlight." She rubbed her arm. "Sure I sing for Blooky's mixes a-and I've done plays in school before, b-but never as a lead part. I usually got a secondary character or the chorus. If you really wanna hear me sing then you'll j-just have to wait for karaoke night or something. I-I'm sorry."

"Well then what if you just did it for fun?" Mettaton was slightly posing as he sat on the couch with the duo. Well...Lou was sitting, Napstablook was floating next to her, and Mettaton looked like he was posing in some kind of modeling photo shoot. He was holding back the desire to continue pushing and doing a more...forceful approach because he'd gotten to know the human. He knew that she was shy and awkward, a little like Alphys when placed in an unfamiliar setting or around new people. If he pushed too hard he'd risk hurting her in some way and that was the last thing he wanted to do. For now, subtle and gentle was the best way to get what he wanted. "I have an opening next Friday and have yet to book anyone in that time slot. It would mean the world to me if you and my cousin could play a few songs, darling."

Lou squirmed a little, biting at her lip as she glanced at Napstablook. She didn't mind too much if it was just for fun and to help Metta out, but what about Blooky? He got nervous in front of people normally and she wasn't sure how he'd feel. Sure he did DJ gigs around town, but those were for things he was comfortable with. "I dunno...Blooky? What do you wanna do?"

"M-me?" He looked at her with wider eyes than usual.

"Yeah, what are you comfortable with?"

"I..." He floated down, sitting on the couch and becoming silent. He had a thoughtful expression, weighing his options and thinking things over. "Well...I-I guess it could be kind of fun...a-and Mettaton has been letting me do the music for some of his shows lately anyway...if that's really okay with you..."

Lou turned to look at Metta, sighing in slight defeat. "I...I'll think about it."

"Fabulous! Absolutely splendid, darling!"

* * *

Mettaton joined them as they worked on a few more mixes. He seemed interested in the process of recording the music, thinking of a beat, maybe auto-tuning the voice a little to match the song. He even added some of his own sound effects and vocals of his own. It was nice to have all three of them together for a change. When the next mix was done, Lou went to her bag and they sat on the couch in the living room. She pulled out a sketch book and started drawing while Blooky fiddled with the mix on his laptop a bit more.

"What are you doing?" Mettaton blinked at them.

"What we always do?" She lifted her head, blinking a little. "I left my homework at home this time, so we're just...hanging out."

"You're not going to play a game or talk out your day? No gossip? Just...sit and do your own thing?" He seemed a bit confused.

The two looked at him, then at each other, then back at him. "Well we already talked about our day before you got here. This is what we do all the time. You don't have to constantly be doing things with each other to hang out. Sometimes it's just nice to be in the same room, doing whatever it is you do. Like read or draw." Lou smiled softly, then looked to Napstablook. "A game does sound fun though. You wanna do that?"

"S-sure! We um...we have some board games and cards over here."

"Sweet! Do you guys have chess?"

"You...play chess?"

"Yeah! Well...I try to, but I've usually only been able to play by myself. Nobody ever wanted to play back home."

"Well what about Sans or Papyrus? I'm sure at least one of them would love to match wits with you in a game, darling!" Mettaton struck a pose, making Lou laugh. For a moment, she was a bit worried since he hadn't done so in the past few minutes.

"Hmm...I never asked. Maybe when I get home later today. I bet Paps would love it, and Sans seems to like anything mentally challenging."

"Does he now?" Metta suddenly seemed very interested, a coy grin falling over his features.

"Um...yeah? He's pretty into science and astronomy." Lou rose a brow, then absently went through the games with Blooky as she continued. "He helps me out with my Biology and Stats homework sometimes. I wanna take him and Paps to this spot I found a while back to look at the stars. I bet they'd love it."

"Like...a date~?"

The human froze as she picked up a game of Sorry!, face turning red. Her head slowly turned to look at the robot, finding a wide grin on his face as he raised his brows repeatedly. "Oh good god not you too."

"I-I think you guys would be nice together..."

Lou whipped her head around, clutching her chest as she looked at Napstablook's nervous grin. She fell over dramatically, pretending that she'd just been stabbed. "Et tu, Blooky?!" The human then gagged on the floor, dramatically dying.

The two monsters just busted up laughing.

* * *

For a while, they all just sat around playing different board games and talking for hours. First was Monopoly, Napstablook winning twice. Mettaton couldn't believe it when his cousin smoked him, but found it even funnier that Lou seemed to have no idea what she was doing and just put houses down wherever she thought would be fun rather than finacially beneficial.

The next game they ended up playing was Skip-bo, a card game where one had to get rid of the card in their stack first by going up from 1-12 in the middle of a table. This time, it was Lou who creamed them all.

"Lou darling, how did you get so good at this game?"

"Hm? Oh, I used to play it all the time with my grandma and cousins. Skip-bo, Uno, Jenga? Those were our favorites. I never really played Monopoly much so I kinda suck there, but I'm not too bad here. "

"Not too bad? You got rid of half of your stack before we could even get one." Mettaton rose a brow at her.

"That was just luck. The real trick is staying that way. Sometimes, you need to gauge whether to use a card to block the next person, or hope that they decide to do so to the person after them. Strategy, luck, and paying attention. Two of which, I'm not always very good at."

"Strategy? Y-you seem just fine there to me..."

"No, luck and paying attention. That's why I can't stand boring teachers." She grinned. "They can't keep my focus."

"W-well then how are you bad in luck? Y-you seem to do just fine to me..."

"Have you seen my track record? I bump into things and trip over air more often than I find a dime on the street." Lou gave a small laugh, showing off the bruise on her hip. "Got that at work yesterday. Smacked right into the bar corner." Both monsters winced. They may be ghosts, but they'd seen other monsters and people do the same before. It looked like it seriously hurt.

"Ouch. Well, what about the boys?"

"B-boys?"

"Yes! Those handsome bone roomies of yours, lovely. Don't tell me you haven't been looking." The robot only smiled more as her face turned redder. "Oh you have! You sneaky little minx~! Come on darling, you can tell 'ol Mettaton. You've been living with them for nearly two whole months now and I've heard everything from Alphy and Undyne." With each word the red on Lou's face only spread. "What's the scoop?"

"W-what?! What did they tell you?!"

"Everything."

Her face flushed a deep crimson as she looked at him with wide eyes. "I-I-I dunno what you're talking about! W-we're just friends! S-sure I guess you could say it was lucky meeting them a-and all. Th-they let me move in a-and we're friends and n-now I got to meet all of you so uh...y-yeah, that's um...lucky...I guess." Her hands reached for a hood, but found nothing. Once again, she found herself with a desire to hide but had nothing to hide with. She settled for removing the clip from her hair and pulling her bangs over her eyes. "C-can we please just do something else now, Ton-ton?"

Silence.

Lou peeked out from under her hair to look at the robot. "Metta-"

"What was that you just called me?"

 _Oh shit._ "Um...Ton-ton...?"

The robot's face became pink as he clasped his hands over his face. "O-oh my..."

Lou blinked, looking over at Napstablook before going back to Mettaton. "I...i-it just slipped out. I-I'm sorry I-"

Long metallic arms looped around and pulled her close, pressing her face against the star's metal chest plate. For metal, it was surprisingly soft. "What an absolutely precious little nickname! How do you keep getting even more adorable, Lou darling?!"

"S-so you...don't think it's dumb...?"

"Of course not! Call me Ton-ton as much as you want!" He gave her a big squeeze, spinning the human around. Napstablook laughed a little as he watched them, then glanced over at the clock.

"O-oh...it looks like it's time t-to get you home, Lou..."

"Awww..." Both parties pouted as the spinning stopped and they too, looked up at the clock.

"Oh I do wish you could stay a little longer, darling."

"I-I would, but I have work tomorrow and I already told Papyrus and Sans I'd be home around dinner."

"Very well then, darling. And do consider my request." He winked, then set the human down as they all got ready to take her home.


	20. Voices

**Chapter 20:** ** _Voices_**

"How many times do I have to tell you, no you can't come to class with me. Why? Um...because last time you tried to get me to cheat on my test and almost got me in huge trouble? No. No! Dammit will you slow down I can't understand when yo-"

 **Knock Knock**

"Who is it?" There was some shuffling behind the door.

"police."

There was a giggled sigh from behing the door. "Police...who?"

"police can i come in?"

After a bit of snickering Lou's bedroom door opened, looking up at the larger skeleton. "Yeah, Sans?"

"i just got home and was wondering if you wanted some help with your homework. i uh...heard you talking to someone though. is Napstablook here?" He peeked over her head into the room.

"N-no, I was uh...on the phone." She gave a nervous smile. _lying? she never lies...at least not flat out like that._ "I just hung up on them. They were getting rude and annoying anyway. C-come on in." The human moved away from the door to let him into her room.

Sans rose a brow bone at her, looking around the room carefully. It had changed since the human first moved in. At first, the room had been barren and plain with nothing but a nightstand, a bed, and a dresser. Now, there were a few posters on the walls, mostly of some anime or comic characters. Little christmas type lights were strung up around the border of where the ceiling met the walls, some paper lanterns strung up as well to hang from the ceiling. With those lights, she no longer used her nightlight at home. Instead, she took it with her on any sleepovers. At night, they almost mimicked little stars. The walls had been painted from their original creamy white to a pink fading down into purple as it got closer to the floor, almost like a strange sunset. Originally, Lou had protested getting them painted at all. She didn't want to make any big changes since she was only a roommate and it was their house, but Papyrus had insisted that she was apart of this house just as much as they were and that she could decorate it however she liked...then dragged her to the local hardware store for paint colors. Her little bookshelf now had a few more next to it, lined with comics and novels alike, a few action figures and toys posed on top. Her bed held the exact same sheets as before, with the exception of a quilt given to her by Toriel and a few stuffed toys.

The skeleton couldn't help but blush at the little skeleton dog next to her purple spider. He'd found it at a gothic clothing store during his break and gotten it for her for Valentine's day. Papyrus had made her some special spaghetti and given her a bright red and orange ribbon to wear in her hair. Lately, Sans couldn't help but notice that she discreetly wore it with everything. Somewhere, it always seemed to be there. Either right out in the open when it matched with her outfit, and other times she wore it wrapped around her wrist or tied to her bag or somewhere else less noticable with anything else. Like today, she was mostly wearing greens and blues, cool colors. But hidden under her sleeve, he could see the hint of the red and orange ribbon tied around her wrist. It made him smile, knowing she kept their gifts close in her own ways. The toy dog he'd gotten never seemed to leave her bed.

On her desk was a simple lamp and whatever homework she was currently working on, a closed laptop resting nearby. Ontop of said homework was her cell phone. After surveying the room and confirming there wasn't anyone else in the room, he flopped back onto her bed.

"Hey! You said you were gonna help me with my homework..." Lou pouted, walking over and crossing her arms over her chest.

The skeleton just smiled and peeked open an eye. "what? i just got back from work and i'm **_bone_** tired. don't i get a break?"

"W-well sure, but this is my room." She looked down at him, her hair hanging just over his face. "Don't you usually crash on the couch or in your room?"

"maybe, but i haven't bugged you all day."

"Sans."

"what? it's not like you're usin' it right now."

"...seriously, Sans? I will sit on you."

"oh? is that a threat?" He grinned wider, folding his arms behind his head and closing his eyes again. "not very scary, kiddo. you can do better than that."

He heard her grumble, then nothing. He heard a bit of shuffling coming from her desk, then a sudden weight on his stomach. Opening his eyes, she'd kept to her word, as usual. She had indeed, sat on him, but not exactly in the way he'd originally thought. The girl was sitting with her legs folded and her book in her lap, a pencil between her teeth, calculator placed onto his chest, and her notebook on the text book. She glanced at him as he stared, still grinning at her. Whenever she said or warned she was going to do something, there was a good chance she'd do it. She said she'd scream if you didn't get off? She screamed. Poked her face and she said she would bite you if you did it again? She bit you...not too hard of course. Now if she was upset and made a threat out of anger like she was going to kill you or break a limb? She didn't do that. It only happened when she was really angry, and if it pushed any farther she just became flustered, frustrated, and at worst would just make angry noises as she stormed out of the room. Sans found it adorable that something so small could get so upset.

"What? I still need to do my homework."

"heh, fine by me kid. wake me up if you need any help."

* * *

By the time Papyrus got home, the homework was done and he found the human and his brother taking a nap on her bed. The textbook and other items had been put on the floor while she was curled up on his belly, one of Sans' arms resting on her back with the other hanging off the bed.

Papyrus smiled softly at them, pulling out his phone to take a picture. By now, he already had a whole folder of them. Not only of Lou and his brother hanging out or napping, but of the three of them together and of when he and Lou did their morning runs. He looked at the photo with a smile, adding it to his folder before pocketing the device. For a moment he thought he felt someone watching behind him, but when he turned around, there wasn't anyone there.

He turned back, finding that Sans was awake and his left eye was glowing blue, staring at the space right behind Papyrus. "Sans? Is something wrong?"

The other skeleton flinched, looking at Papyrus as the blue vanished and his sockets regained the usual floating white orbs of light. "y-yeah, i'm okay, Paps. uh...bad dream. that's all." His eyes glanced behind the taller skeleton a moment, then back up at him, a bit of sweat beading on his skull. "don't worry, it wasn't as bad as it usually is bro."

Papyrus wasn't convinced, but he let it slide, not wanting to push his brother while he was upset. Besides, it wasn't something they should bring up in front of their human. "Alright, brother. You know that you can always talk to me about that, okay?"

"yeah, i know bro."

Lou shifted as they talked, lifting her head sleepily to look at them. She looked at Papyrus, smiling. "Paps! When did you get home?"

"Just a few minutes ago. I didn't see you two in the living room so I thought I'd check to see if you might be doing homework up here, and instead I find you and Sans being lazy bones...again." He was only teasing, making it clear with the smile on his face. "Did you at least get some of it done before your nap?"

"Uh huh, finished actually."

"Fantastic!" He reached out and lifted her up, tucking her under his arm. The human giggled, pitifully wiggling her arms and legs in a mock escape attempt. "Come, human! We must get dinner started! Nyeh heh heh!" He turned around, heading right out of the room.

* * *

Sans watched them go, before sitting up and looking around the room. He knew what he'd seen...at least he thought he knew. Whatever and whoever it was, it was too blurry for him to properly make out, but the fact it had been behind his brother unsettled him. This wasn't the first time either. He'd seen the thing all over the house in small amounts. In the kitchen, the living room, the stairs, and now in Lou's room. It was always just a glimpse, a shadow. He felt the presence here right now, but it was faint. Maybe hiding? Good. It should be.

He looked around. Whatever it was, it seemed to especially have an interest in Lou. She was always there when he saw it. Standing behind her, nearby in a corner, once he'd caught it next to her desk while she worked on homework. As soon as he looked at it, the damn thing disappeared. A few times, he'd caught it following her through town. On her way to school, while serving food at Grillby's, when she came to visit him at work once. What did it want with her?

His left eye flared blue. He could feel it, watching. "whoever-...whatever you are...stay away from the kid. i don't know what the hell you want with them...but if you do anything to hurt her... ** _you're gonna have a bad time_**..." A dark image flickered in the corner of the room, making him flinch and pause. It seemed to try telling him something, but it was too blurry for him to make out, and soon faded away. The presence was gone as well, meaning the thing had left. Sans let the glow die down, his sockets going completely dark.

 _what the hell is going on?_


	21. Presence

**Chapter 21: _Presence_**

"Hey there sweet cheeks." The seahorse monster winked as she served him his drink.

"Call me sweet cheeks one more time, and I swear I'll slap that smirk right off your snout." Lou gave him a squinting glare.

"Ooh, feisty. I like that~" He leaned forward. Aaron was her most difficult customer. Always hitting on everyone. He wasn't a bad guy, just a bit of a creep. Grillby didn't like how he creeped out all of his customers, but he was still a customer nonetheless. Luckily he didn't come by too much due to the heat of the place often drying him out. It took every ounce of patience she had to not reach out and smack him everytime he so much as looked in her direction. Anytime he's gotten kicked out was due to him hitting on the wrong girl and accidentally upsetting her boyfriend...or girlfriend in one particular case and causing a small brawl, and a few times where enough complaints warranted actual removal. These were all few and far between, but still enough to make the human wonder if he'd ever learn.

"Just shut up and don't make me have to call the bear." She groaned, only to have him stare at her ass as she walked away. This was the wrong day to wear a skirt, even with the black capri leggings underneath. Scratch that, the leggings only made it worse. "God...just freaking shoot me, I swear."

"oh come on, kiddo. we don't want that. we just got your room set up." Sans stood next to her. She'd barely heard the usual chorus of hellos that had greeted him when he came in today. Aaron must have distracted more than she thought.

"Just the usual problematic customers. Aaron's being a creep again, but then...when isn't he?" She forced an awkward laugh, then groaned out a sigh. "I just wish he'd stop staring at my ass every time I walk by. There isn't even much to see anyway..." She mumbled the last part before smiling at her friend. "So, what's it gonna be today? Burg, fries, or just ketchup?"

"ketchup for now. thanks, kid." He smiled at her as she went into the back to grab his and a few other orders before turning around and walking right up to Aaron.

"Hey Sans, how're you doing today, man?" The seahorse-man monster gave him one of his lady killing smiles, flexing a bicep and winking. He flinched however, when Sans slammed his boney hands down on the table and got uncomfortably close, eye sockets nothing but dark voids as the air around them suddenly felt cold and eery. Half of the room went dead silent.

"back. off. my human." Sans' voice was dark, deeper and with a gravely growl to it. When he stopped speaking in his usual lazy drawl, it was never a good sign. "don't look at her ass. don't call her sweet cheeks, or babe, or anything else except for Lou or miss. got it? i don't wanna hear about you creeping around her ever. again."

"O-okay, man! W-whatever you say!" His voice cracked.

* * *

When Lou returned, Aaron was gone and Sans was sitting at his usual spot at the bar. "Did I miss something? Aaron left earlier than usual..."

"guess he was feeling a little _**horse**_."

"Sans, what did you do?"

" _ **hay**_ , what makes you think i did something?" He glanced at her, taking the bottle of ketchup as it was handed to him. "it's a _**bit**_ rude to accuse someone like that." His grin grew a bit as she gave him an unimpressed look.

"You're a dork, and that was a terrible **_fibula_**. To be frank, I'm a little _**off-handed**_ that you didn't do better. You're _**Achillin'**_ me, man." Her lips twitched at the corner to keep from smiling as the skeleton just laughed.

Sans smiled wider as she laughed with him. "not bad, kid. not bad. so, what've you got planned for today?"

"After this, I'm going over Alphy's house to hang out with her and Undyne for a little while. We might be working on some cosplay costumes and marathon a show or two we started last week. Um...that's about it for today. Tomorrow I have to babysit for Toriel."

"oh? you're watching Frisk? haven't seen them since our last movie night." He smiled. Frisk came over quite a bit, especially after school. Now that Lou was around, she'd play with them too. By now, the two were practically siblings. It was nice to see his two favorite humans getting along.

"Yeah. She's got a date you know." Lou winked, smiling wide like it was some big secret. "I heard her and this Asgore guy started talking again. Frisk seems pretty happy about it, but don't tell anybody, okay? It's still not official and...well I'm not even sure if he's the one she's going on a date with."

"Asgore? really?" His eyes widened. The king and queen rarely talked to each other these days, so hearing that the two were getting close again was big news. If they ever did get back together, the whole monster community would probably through a huge party to celebrate. "speaking of which, have you ever met him?"

"Uh...not really, no. I don't even know what the guy looks like."

"really? he's been on the news a few times."

"Meh, I don't really follow the news. Or anything else in the media to be honest." She shrugged, then got back to work.

"she is one weird kid..." Sans watched her go, stealing a glance at her in the skirt. _i don't know what she's thinking though, she does too have a cute butt._

* * *

Lou smiled and laughed with the couple, making another silly face that had them rolling around in tears. She had a bright pink mustache pasted on her lip as she danced around in a tutu and fairy wings, claiming she was the man fairy and that she gave every man their manly mustaches. "What? Pink can't be manly?! Shame on you! Mustache dust!" She flung some glitter on them, speaking in an exaggerated deep voice. Undyne howled and pulled some of her hair over her face to make a red mustache.

"Oh no! Alphys, help! I've become a man!" She spoke in a deep voice, flexing her muscles. "Look how macho I am! GRAAAAHH! Aaaaaahahahaha! Help! It's spreading! I'm becoming like Aaron!"

Alphys tried to speak through her giggles. "O-Oh no! Not Aaron! Anything b-but that! U-Undyne! Come back to me!" She then grabbed a sparkly wand from nearby and pointed it at Lou. "H-how dare you, man-fairy! I...uh..."

"Super Alphys?"

"N-no..."

"Alphydite?"

"A-Alphydite! I, Alphydite w-will stop you!" She got up and got into a fighting stance that almost exactly matched that of an anime poster on her wall.

The other two looked at her a moment before laughing and falling over. "Ohmigod I can't breathe!" Lou wheezed as she fell to her knees, smacking at the floor and holding herself up with an elbow before just rolling onto her side.

"Alphy, I-I didn't think you could get any cuter but...pfft. I was wrong!" Undyne laughed, pulling the already blushing scientist into a hug.

"O-okay, b-but seriously we should work more on these." Lou sat up, holding the Mabel sweater that had been discarded on the floor. Each of them had started working on a few cosplays for a convention they planned on going to. Also, Alphys really wanted to try some photos in the woods as the Gravity Falls characters, thinking that it would be the perfect place for it. They were going as different characters from the show for one of the days, and were still brainstorming ideas for the other two days. So far One Piece and Teen Titans were looking pretty popular.

"Alright, alright. I still get to be Wendy, right?" Undyne looked at them with a wide eye, a huge grin on her face. "That chick is awesome!"

"Heck yeah! Undyne, you are the Wendy-est Wendy we know. The character was practically made for you."

"Totally! Fuhuhuhuhu!" The fish woman placed her fists on her hips as she got a large toothy grin on her face.

Lou was about to say something else when she noticed a familiar figure watching from the corner. When her eyes landed on it, the shadowed form waved before fading out. "Uh...I-I'll be right back. I have to go to the bathroom and get this glitter off." She held up her hands, showing the glitter coating them before getting up and leaving the room.

"A-alright! D-don't take too long!"

* * *

Lou brushed the glitter off on the tutu before looking around, trying to spot the figure from before. "You there?" She looked around, feeling confused as she didn't see it. The presence was there, but she just couldn't see where they'd gone. Then it was in front of her, making her jump and suck in a breathe. She sighed, waving for the shadow to back up a bit. "Don't do that!" Her voice was hushed, not wanting Alphys and Undyne to possibly hear her. "What are you doing here? I told you I was hanging out with them today."

The shadow made a few movements, then looked down.

"Oh...you were hoping they might be able to see you?" She looked back down the hall, then to the shadow.

It nodded, but it's gaze went back to the floor.

"They can't see you either, huh?" A nod. "I...know it must be hard. I can to talk to Alphys about working on something for you...if you want? I'll try to get her alone. I don't know how Undyne would feel about...yeah. You know how she can be." She reached up a hand, trying to touch the face even though she knew her hand would just go right through. "I promised I'd help you get home, and that's exactly what I'll do. I promise."

* * *

Alphys watched as Lou left the room, fideting with her claws. Had she felt it too? Or maybe she really was just getting the glitter off. Glitter was always a pain to get rid of. She looked down at her claws, then back up at Undyne, who was gathering as much red plaid as she could find for her cosplay. Undyne didn't seem to know. If she did, she was better at hiding it.

The yellow monster had felt a presence she'd felt a few times before, back underground, but for the past few weeks had been pushing it aside. It was only ever when Lou came over, which was odd since this had happened even before Lou'd shown up, case in point being the times underground. She was glad that the feeling of being watched was gone, but that didn't mean she couldn't still be nervous. Later, before Lou left, she'd have to get her alone to talk. She couldn't just push it away anymore. If this thing was following her friend now, she had to let them know. Before something bad happened.

 **Author's Notes:** sorry for all the shorter chapters lately, guys! I wanna add more, but if I do I'm worried about giving things away too quickly! though...I will say that we are having one key reveal very soon. also, Frisk comes back next chapter! Yay! Oh, and to the guest person who sent a review about seeing the end of a chapter, i'm not sure if you meant because the chapters have been a little short or you mean the end of a fanfic? If you mean the later, I can assure you this fanfic isn't even close to being finished. I don't know how many chapters we'll have, but I haven't even revealed some of the big key points yet! Like this shadow figure and the red eyes? You really think I'd end it without telling you? For shame~ Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little chapter. It's more of a set up for more hinting and the babysitting thing with Frisk, sorry! It just didn't feel right to just drop it in there so quickly! Have a good rest of the day! Or night, depending on where y'all are at. See you next time!


	22. Babysitting

**Chapter 22: _Babysitting_**

Toriel's house wasn't that far from the school. In fact, it was practically right next door and easy for Lou to walk to. It was a good sized family home with a backyard and a decent sized pool. Right now it was covered up, but once summer finally kicked in it would be getting much more use. On one side of the yard was a small vegetable garden and flowers bloomed everywhere, especially in the front yard. There was even a tree house in the making. Lou was still new to babysitting the human child, who not only acted as the main head for human-monster relations but was also the one who freed them in the first place, but it was just like babysitting any other kid.

"Now, Frisk has some homework they've been struggling with so if you could assist them on that while I'm gone it would be greatly appreciated. Oh! And my number is on the fridge if you need it, as well as 911 and-"

"Toriel, I have all of those in my phone already, don't worry about it." Lou smiled gently up at the motherly goat monster. The former queen was well known in the neighborhood and among the students and staff at the school as 'Goat Mom'. She easily lived up to the name. Almost everyone in the suburbian area of Ebott knew and loved her...except of course the usual occasional jerk who didn't even try. If they did, they'd love her just as much as everyone else. "You go get ready for your date, I got this."

"Y-yes, you are right. Thank you, Lou." She rushed off to her bedroom, earning a chuckle from the young adult.

Lou went to the kitchen to check on Frisk, who was sitting at the island, chewing on a pencil as they stared at a math book. "Hey, stripes. How're you doing?" She came up, resting her elbows on the tiled surface and looking over the problem. "Need any help?"

 ***You tell Lou you don't understand the problem.**

"Which one, this?" The older human carefully pulled the textbook over and read the problem. "Ah, word problem. Yeah, these always give me trouble too. Just be lucky you're not in doing variables yet. The moment they add letters to math, you open up a whole new world of confusion."

 ***You groan, letting your head flop onto your notebook. You tell Lou that you hate math.**

"Me too kid...me too. Luckily, this I understand!" She smiled, poking their cheek to get them to look up. "Come on, I'll get you started. I'm not telling you the answer though, just how to figure it out." She pointed to the numbers given, explaining a few things until the child's eyes lit up and they nodded.

 ***Finally understanding how to solve the problem on your own fills you with DETERMINATION!**

"Nice!" Lou chuckled, sitting next to them as they move onto the next few problems. She didn't say anything unless they got stuck, then nudged them in the right direction with little tips.

 _DING DONG DING_

"Could someone please get the door? I-I am almost ready!"

"I got it, Tori!" Lou got up from the kitchen island, going to the front door and looking through the peek hole before opening the door. "Mr. Dreemurr? What are you doing here?"

"Ah! M-miss Sn-er...Lou! Did...I get the wrong address?" He frantically looked at the number on the house, then back towards the street in hopes of finding the sign. He was sure he'd gone to the right address, but wouldn't be surprised if he missed the street entirely. Roads on the surface were just so confusing, like giant puzzles and mazes.

"No, no. I'm just babysitting." The goat man calmed down, looking back to her. "You must be Tori's date tonight, huh? You look good." She smiled, looking over the suit he was wearing.

The large monster towered over just about everyone, much like the gentle goat mom down the hall. Both of them radiated a certain parental aura and comfort. He was very fluffy, the black suit bulged a bit from fur and muscle. It was pretty adorable, especially with that sweet face of his which currently held a nervous smile. Whenever she saw Mr. Dreemurr she always had the urge to give him a big hug and just couldn't stop smiling. "Th-thank you. Um...I assume Toriel is getting ready?"

"Yeah, she's almost done. I haven't seen you in a while." She smiled, suddenly thinking back to how she met him.

• • •

Lou first met the goat man at Muffet's. Since being brought there by Papyrus the first time, she went there quite often before and sometimes after class, especially with Blooky. The spiders were always nice and would check on her every now and then to see if she wanted more cider or another donut. It was very sweet, always welcoming. She no longer stuttered and hid when coming in, and instead even started befriending a few of the regulars as well as Muffet and her spiders. Once, after getting into another fight with some monster haters picking on yet another monster, she stopped by for cider. Monster food was an amazing healer, and she really didn't want Sans and Papyrus to worry if she went home with a bloody nose and a bruised cheek again. Last time Papyrus nearly had a heart attack when she came home with a split lip and a cut above her eye...and he didn't even have a heart! Well...not in the sense of an organ anyway. The skeleton's metaphorical heart was the bigger than anyone she'd ever met.

"Oh dear, what happened to you?" Muffet looked extremely worried when she came in. This was the first time Lou had actually had something visible from one of these fights.

 _Crap..._ "What, this? I walked into a wall. Nothing to worry about." The girl tried deflecting the question. She figured the injuries she had could warrant such an excuse. They could not.

"Lou, you are a terrible liar. What happened?"

"...Some jerks were picking on a mouse kid with a scarf..." Lou looked down guiltily, rubbing at her arm, wincing at a bruise starting to form. "I-I couldn't just ignore it..."

"Oh deary..."

"C-can I just get some cider, please? I'll be fine, really." She pulled out the usual amount for a cider, handing it over. When she got her order though, she found that the spider had also given her a donut. "M-Muffy? I-I didn't order a-"

"On the house."

"...who are you and what have you done with Muffet?"

The spider woman had just laughed, telling her to take it before she changed her mind. Lou begrudgingly agreed, and took a seat in the back.

For a while she'd been alone, before a large man in a pink Hawaiian floral shirt and khaki pants came over. "Do you mind if I sit with you?"

She looked up at the monster, blinking at his golden beard. For a monster so huge, he looked very nervous and gentle. Like he'd give anyone having a bad day a big hug and a cookie. The first thought that came to her mind was 'Goat Dad'. "Sure, I-I don't mind..." Lou tried to give him room, then took a sip of her drink. Her nose had stopped bleeding, so that was a good sign.

"Thank you." He sat across from her, giving an awkward smile. "I...couldn't help but overhear what happened. I don't mean to overstep but...a-are you alright?"

Lou blushed a little, curling on herself slightly and pulling up her hood. "I-I'm okay. I've had w-worse, sir. Thank you for asking, though."

The goat man had nodded. "Could I ask why, though?"

"H-huh?"

"Why did you step in?" His eyes were still soft, but he seemed to be...a little harder than before. Not necessarily dark or tense, but...more cautious perhaps? It reminded her of Sans when she'd first met him. "You didn't have to. You're human, you could have...did...get hurt. So why?"

"..." Lou looked down into her cup, fidgeting in her seat. She didn't like answering questions like this to complete strangers. They delved too close to more...personal things. "I...it's personal, sir. I-I'd tell you, y-you seem nice enough but...I don't even know who you are."

The goat man looked a little surprised when she said she didn't know who he was, then softened a little. "-...Dreemurr."

Lou blinked and looked up, missing the first part of his words. "Dreamer?" She tilted her head. "Um...i-it's nice to meet you, Mr. Dreemurr. My name is.."

• • •

After that, the two saw each other quite often around town and at Muffet's. He always checked up on how she was doing, almost always seeing her after a fight. None of them had ever been too bad, mostly a busted lip or a black eye. Every time he asked her the same question: why? Each time, she never fully answered. Sometimes she was standing up for a monster, sometimes a little kid, sometimes a couple. The species never mattered. Always someone who was getting picked on that couldn't or wouldn't stand up for themselves. By now the goat man had at least learned she was a college student, she was friends with a good handful of monsters and a select few humans. He knew that she had enough of a temper to get into fights, but never started them herself. The human was kind and gentle to most people she met, shy around those she didn't know or had yet to feel comfortable around. He knew she was living with the two skeleton brothers of Snowdin and that she watched anime with the ex-royal guard captain and ex-royal scientist, and now that she knew Frisk and Toriel. But still, she wouldn't tell him why she bothered to intervene.

He also noticed, she never called him Asgore, only Mr. Dreemurr.

"Alright, I'm ready. Thank you again, child." Toriel smiled as she came over in a lovely purple dress that hugged her curves, a split near her thigh made it easier to walk in and just looked absolutely stunning on the usually so reserved ex-queen.

"For the hundreth time, I'm almost 21." Lou laughed. "You look amazing, Tori."

"Thank you!" The goat woman blushed, looking to the goat man. "Are you ready, Asgore?"

"Asgore?" Lou blinked, looking at him confused. "You're Asgore?"

"Yes? I thought you knew." He rose a brow.

"Oh! You know each other?" Tori looked a bit confused.

"Y-yeah, I met him at Muffet's once." The human looked at him again. "I...must have missed your name that one time." She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, cheeks turning a little red. Now she felt foolish for not double checking.

He merely chuckled and gently ruffled her hair, his hand capable of enveloping her whole head if he'd ever wanted to. "That's quite alright, Lou. I assumed you just preferred calling me Mr. Dreemurr."

"I kinda do..." She mumbled, glancing to the side a moment before bouncing back. "Well anyway, you guys better get going! You don't wanna be late, do ya?"

Toriel giggled lightly. "No, I suppose not. Be good, okay? Oh! And Frisk's bedtime is 9 o'clock!"

"I know. You two have fun, but not too much fun!" The human winked and gave them some playful finger guns as they headed down the street. With a soft smile, she shut the door and turned around, only to jump. "Gah! Flowey! Don't do that!"

A small golden flower grinned at her from his pot in Frisk's hands. Under normal circumstances the two didn't bother her when they ninja'd their way behind her. It was when Flowey decided to make one of his creepy faces right as she turned around that threw her off.

"Whaaat? I didn't do anything." The plant winked, going back to his usual cartoon smile.

"Uh huh, sure. Now come on, I know you still have math homework." She placed a hand on Frisk's back, gently nudging them back to the kitchen.

 ***You look up at your babysitter, then glance behind them. You wonder if you should tell Lou about the shadow behind her.**


	23. Shadow Revealed

**Chapter 23: _Shadow Revealed_**

After math homework was done, they all settled into the living room for some games. Flowey usually preferred games where there was a winner and a loser, while Frisk usually liked co-op and friendly games like Animal Crossing or Little Big Planet. This time however, Lou didn't want them on electronics all night. So instead, they started with a simple game of Go-Fish. Frisk didn't mind, but Flowey groaned about it being a baby's game. Of course, he ended up being the one most into it near the end.

For a while they hopped from card games, to board games, and eventualy to classic games like hide-and-seek. Lou smiled. "You guys ever played hide and go seek in the dark?" The two shook their heads, only making her smile wider. "Sweet! Well it's more or less regular hide-and-seek, but you do it in a dark room or a part of the house that's dark so normally night time is the best time to play this one. For small groups like us, a room should do fine. Anyway, the person who's it waits outside of the room or somewhere with the lights on and waits for everyone to hide, counting down of course. When they get to zero, they close their eyes and go into the room and shut the lights off before opening them. After that, it's regular hide and seek, just no lights. For the people hiding it makes it a little easier since you don't need to be behind something or under a bed to hide, you could be standing on the table and still be hiding."

 ***You nod, liking the idea of this game.**

"We should probably do it in a room where we won't accidentally break something though. That would suck."

"Only one problem."

"What?"

"I can't get around without you or Frisk carrying me, and I'm still technically a monster and see much better than you in the dark." Flowey grumbled. "Idiot..."

"Oh...right...I always forget that you're a flower...sorry. Um...let's save that one for a day when we have more people, how about that?" Lou blushed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Um...well let's do something else then. Frisk, got any ideas?"

 ***You nod, suggesting that they do some crafts and make something for mom and dad when they get home.**

Lou smiled. "Aww! You call them mom and dad! That's so cute!" She only smiled more as the normally stone-faced child blushed a little. "Hoping they get together officially? Heh, me too."

Just as they finally got out what they needed to make their crafts, the doorbell rang. "That must be pizza. Be right back." The girl left the room, still being followed by that mysterious shadow.

* * *

"If you don't tell her, I will."

 ***You scowl at Flowey. You tell him that you don't want to freak Lou out. Mom finally was out on a date with dad and you didn't want it ruined.**

"What if it's Chara?"

 ***...You tell him it isn't Chara.**

"How do you know it's not Chara?! You said it was a black shadow! Who else could it be?!"

 ***You are about to tell Flowey, when Lou returns to the room, holding a pizza box in her hand.**

"Alright guys, pizza's here." The older human smiled, sitting with them at the table after giving everyone two slices each. Frisk and Flowey liked having Lou babysit. They told Toriel they could take care of themselves, but it was always nice to have her around. She was fun to play with, easy to talk to, and there was always something new with her there. Flowey liked teasing her and scaring her, especially after finding out from Frisk that Undyne and Alphys thought she'd make a good match with one of her skeleton roommates. But right now, both were silent, something to be expected from only one of them. "Something wrong? You guys aren't touching your pizza...I even ordered your favorite with all the weird toppings you like."

 ***You look up from your pizza, not realizing that you'd been staring off into space. Your eyes land on the shadow behind Lou. You decide to tell her about it.**

"Huh?" Lou quickly turned, startling the shadowy form standing behind her. For a moment she looks shocked, then looks back at Frisk with a...different kind of shock. "You can see him?"

"Whoa whoa whoa, you knew it was there?!" Flowey was practically fuming, his usually high pitched voice becoming more distorted. "We've been playing sissy board games and doing math homework worrying that you were getting possessed and you knew this entire time that it was there?!" The flower hissed.

"Y-yeah, but so far nobody else has been able to really see him so...I-I dunno, I didn't think it needed to be said? I'm still surprised that someone else can see him..." Lou ran a hand through her hair, sitting with them on the couch in the living room. They'd brought the pizza with them, but neither of them seemed likely to start eating just yet. "At first I thought I was just crazy or something..."

 ***You ask Lou why they can see him but nobody else.**

"I dunno. Like I said, I thought I was the only one. I mean...if you'd told me sooner I woulda thought it was just some weird human thing but...obviously that's not the case, seeing how no other humans or monsters seem to have even registered him being there. Just you and me...unless Flowey can see him?"

"Nope." The flower grumbled, crossing his leaves like little arms. It was sometimes a wonder how something so cute and small could also be so creepy and just...a little asshole at times. "I feel like something's here but...I don't see anything."

"Fair enough...Alphys said something similar when she told me." Lou rubbed her neck. "I was gonna ask her if she could help him when uh...she said she thought something was following me around and to be careful." The girl looked down. "I...wanted to tell her the truth, th-that I already knew but...I chickened out and said I'd be careful..." She sighed, running her other hand through her hair before grabbing some hair in a fist. "I am such an idiot...I shoulda told her..." She let out a breath.

The shadow that had settled nearby was suddenly next to her, trying to place a gentle hand on her shoulder. The feeling got across, but he still couldn't actually touch her.

She lifted her head, giving a weak smile. "Thanks...I'm real sorry I...I know I promised to help..."

 ***You break the tension by asking how Lou first met him. You ask how she first found out she could see him.**

* * *

Lou grumbled, tugging at her hair as she stared down at a particularly difficult problem. It all looked like gibberish to her. _Why does Stats have to be 90% word problems? Whyyyyyy?_ The human held the mechanical pencil in her teeth by the clip used to hook it on a page or a shirt. Whatever the hell that one part was for, thing usually broke off most of the cheap plastic ones she'd gotten from a dollar store anyway, but it made a great little thing to chew on or hold onto when she was bored. Half the time she'd forget it was even there and walk around the house like that until someone called her out on it. Once, she caught herself using a different pencil while holding the other in her teeth, only to wonder why the hell she was using two pencils.

"I hate Stats so much..." She pouted, wondering if she should keep trying or wait for Sans to come home. She always liked having him nearby. He made the room feel so...calm. Speaking of, it felt...different now. Like she was being watched again. On/off she'd been getting that feeling all week, and only when home alone. She lifted up her head, turning around to look, not expecting to find anything.

This time, someone was there. A black, goopy looking monster with a white oval head. His eyes were black holes with small dots of light, just like Sans. His right eye dropped a little and had a crack running from the eye to somewhere behind his head. There was another crack running from the bottom of the left eye to his mouth, which was currently open in shock as he stared at her. His hands were raised, palms facing her. They were white, almost boney in appearance, with holes in the middle where his palms should be. There were no arms, the hands floated in front of the goopy blackness that made up his body.

At first the human was shocked to find something actually there, then she was curious, brow furrowing under her hair. How had he gotten there? At least he looked like a male, she couldn't tell. His body looked faded, almost transparent and shadow-like. Something told her he wasn't a ghost though.

For a while, the two just stared at each other. The shadow man seemed...nervous. His mouth moved as if talking to himself, but she couldn't hear anything. Soon, he lifted his head to look at her, waving a hand at her as he gave a shy smile. Ah, so he was friendly. That was good to know. He seemed to sigh in...maybe relief, as she didn't respond right away.

After looking him over one more time, she gave a kind smile and raised her hand as well, waving back. "Hello."

That did it. The shadow man bristled, looking even more shocked than before. He back away, then suddenly disappeared, the feeling of someone being in the room suddenly gone. The human frowned. Had she done something wrong? She looked around, then went back to her homework. She needed to get this done. Besides, not much she could do if the man had left.

• • •

It was a good few days before she saw the shadow man again, this time lurking in the corner of her room instead of right behind her. She looked up as she messed around with some more homework. She gave another smile and he looked like he may leave again. "W-wait!" The shadow stopped. "C-can we just talk?" He stared at her, expression becoming confused. "I-if that's okay? I...kinda have a few questions...if that's alright?" She tugged at her sleeve, setting down her homework. The shadow man still didn't move from his spot. Lou looked down at her hands, then held them up. "I-I don't have a weapon or anything if you're worried about that. R-really, I just wanna talk." Her eyes went to the door. "Sans and Papyrus won't be home until later, so you don't need to worry about that either...i-if you're worried about being seen? I haven't said anything either..."

He looked to the door as well, then flashed out of sight. For a moment, Lou was afraid she'd scared him off, until he popped in front of her, arms length from her face.

"Eep!" She jumped, staring at him with wide eyes. "H-hello. Um...can I ask what your name is? I'm Lou."

He looked at her a moment, then moved his mouth to speak. No words came out. Or at least, none that she could hear. The expression on her face must have told him that, so he started moving his hands. She recognized the movement as Sign Language. American Sign Language to be exact.

"H-hold on, can you slow down a little? I'm still learning." Lou held up her hands to ask him to stop, then signed back to him. **SIGN SLOW PLEASE.**

He blinked at her, surprised, then nodded and signed slower. **MY NAME G-A-S-T-E-R.**

* * *

After he finally told her who he was, they talked regularly when she was alone. Lou even told the two about how she first learned other humans couldn't see him. She'd been in the middle of class and he thought it'd be a good idea to offer some help. For a moment she'd almost had a panic attack before realizing no one even registered his existence, like he wasn't there at all. Then, during a Stats test he'd tried to help again by giving her the answers, but she quickly shoo'd the goop skeleton off, insisting she could do it herself and if she got it wrong then oh well, she'd just have to study more for the next test.

 ***You tell Lou about how you first met Gaster underground, but leave out a few...certain details. You tell her that you'd thought he stayed underground, or moved in somewhere else after breaking the barrier.**

Lou hummed a little, resting her chin in her palm. Frisk seemed oddly calm, knowing that this was Gaster, but Flowey wasn't entirely convinced.

"I don't trust this guy. He gives me the creeps." The flower gave a scowl. He wasn't scowling at Gaster in particular, more at the general group. It was easy to see that Flowey was the only one here who couldn't see the former scientist.

"I do." Lou looked at him. "He just wants his kids to be safe."

"Kids...?"

"Sans and Papyrus. He's their father. Apparently there was an accident with something called the Core and he was erased from existence. He won't give me all the details, but apparently he's been keeping an eye on everyone for a while. More recently, on me."

"Why? Seems pretty creepy and dark to me." The flower glared again, looking next to Lou in hopes of getting the goop skeleton. He failed, making Frisk giggle a little.

"Well how would you feel if your two sons, who had to grow up on their own, suddenly had a human roommate who just so happens to be a race that doesn't have the best track record in being friendly to monsters? Wouldn't you be worried?"

"I wouldn't care, stupid!" Flowey grumbled, turning away. Lou caught the smallest hint of a blush on his face.

"I still call biscuit sprinkles on that whole no soul stuff, Azzy."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

Lou chuckled, looking back to Frisk. The child had once told her in good faith about the flower's true identity, making her promise to not tell. She agreed, but still took her chance to call him Azzy when they were alone. "Heh, alright."

 ***You ask Lou what she plans to do now.**

"I...don't really know." She sighed. "I...I really shouldn't keep hiding him away like this anymore...I can tell that some people are beginning to notice something's not right. After Alphys...I..."

 ***You tell her she should tell the truth and ask for help. You offer to help tell if she still isn't sure.**

"Well I did just lie to her face...I mean I don't think she really believed me but...yeah." Lou ran a hand through her hair. She couldn't help but mentally note how long it was getting. Her bangs had grown just past her nose and the rest of it was beginning to brush her shoulders. She'd been saving up, maybe she should take Mettaton up on that offer to go get it done. He might know someone good in town she could go to. Shaking the random thought from her head, she looked at the child. "A-alright, yeah. I-I really should tell her the truth...I don't like lying to my friends..."

Gaster gave them all a soft smile. Now that things had settled down and they had a plan to get some help set into motion, he relaxed more and settled for watching the three of them. They made bracelets out of string that Frisk had gotten, doing so as they finally ate their pizza.

By the time Toriel and Asgore got home, multiple bracelets had been made for everyone. Including one set aside from the rest by Lou, for Gaster.


	24. Another Day

**Chapter 24: _Another Day_**

Gaster continued to keep an eye socket on Lou as days passed. Frisk kept true to their word and helped with conveying everything to Alphys. While they didn't do all the work, they helped to get the ball rolling. The yellow monster seemed surprised at what had truly been going on, but understood the young adult's reasons for not telling the whole truth. She got to work right away writing up equations and blueprints based on what they were able to figure out from their new friend stuck in the void while keeping the project a secret from her girlfriend, Undyne. Since coming to the surface, Alphys found it much easier to find materials for any projects she came up with and was now a successful inventor.

Lou often had to play translator between the two, since she was the only one who knew ASL of the three and had become so used to decoding the wingding font that would glitch onto her phone sometimes that she no longer needed the key that had once been ever present in her pocket or bag. By now, she could look at the symbols when the doctor made them appear on her phone and just know what they said. He often used it when signing just wasn't working or he was impatient and couldn't go slow enough for her to understand.

Lou however, was becoming more and more anxious as the next week rolled in. Mettaton was sending her messages constantly to see whether or not she'd be performing on Friday evening at his show with Napstablook. She just couldn't decide. Blooky seemed okay with all of it, but she was still nervous. Her hair was always in her face, she wasn't sure what she'd even wear, and to be quite blunt the idea of performing on live television even for fun terrified her. She refused to ask anyone else for advice either, not wanting them to know, especially her roommates.

* * *

Gaster noticed her distress, choosing to ask her one day as she stared at the ceiling in her room alone, loud music playing on the device she once told him was called an iPod. He was finding much interest in learning about all of the advances they had since the accident, wishing even more for a physical form to tinker with it all. For now, he settled for what he could learn by observation. Sometimes when the human was having difficulty figuring out an issue with one of the devices, he was able to figure out the issue with a simple series of questions.

As the human lay on the bed, eyes closed, he came up beside her and brushed his hand over her hair. Some of it moved a little, but otherwise didn't quite move the way he wanted it to. Nevertheless, Lou always seemed to be able to sense or partially feel these actions, and opened her eyes. How exactly, he wasn't entirely sure. She looked at the goop skeleton man as he slowly signed to her, asking what was on her mind. The human glanced away, then sat up, removing the earbuds.

"I don't really wanna talk about it, Gaster. It's nothing bad just...something I need to figure out myself." Lou shrugged, rubbing her arm lightly. "Don't worry about it."

Gaster frowned at her, signing with more pronounced movements. **TELL ME LOU**

She fidgeted, thinking it over for a few minutes. After a while of sitting under his gaze she finally broke. "Alright, alright. I'll tell you. Just...don't tell anybody else, okay? I don't want anybody to find out..." She told him about Mettaton's proposal of having her and Blooky perform on his show. If she said yes, it would likely just be her on a stage singing cover songs in some outfit that Metta would more than likely pick for her himself.

 **WHY BAD?** He tilted his head at her, furrowing his brow. He thought it would be a lot of fun and a great opportunity. While he knew that she had no care for fame or popularity, if she ever decided that she liked this it would be a great way to get out there. Maybe that was just the dad in him, but he didn't want her to lock herself away just because she was afraid of what others might think.

"B-because! I don't want to be on TV or in front of a crowd or anything like that...I don't like to sing in public let alone in front of people..." She hugged her knees to her chest. "Sure I've done plays in school before but...this is something completely different."

Gaster frowned, reaching out to rub her head. Again, his hand mostly just phased right through it, but the human still looked up at him as if he'd really done it. He gave her a gentle smile, then nodded to her phone.

She looked down, picking it up as her phone screen became static and different symbols covered its surface. The translation made her smile.

 _ **I know you're scared my dear, but you should still try. It'll be fun and I know you'll do great. If you end up not liking it, that's fine. At least you can say you tried.**_

Lou looked up at the skeleton and wrapped him in a hug. Well...pseudo-hug. It made Gaster smile as he returned the hug as best he could. "Thanks, Gaster. I...guess giving it a try couldn't hurt, right?"

 **KNOCK KNOCK**

Lou jumped, releasing the monster as her eyes went to the door. Sans should still be at work and Papyrus didn't get off until later that day. Gaster glanced at the door, then to Lou as her eyes got that red tint to them. He sighed, wishing she'd talk about that as well. He was curious and concerned about what might cause it, but anytime he tried to ask she would either deflect or avoid. Raising a hand to calm her, he faded from the room.

* * *

When he returned, he have a gentle smile and signed a familiar name that calmed her down, then disappeared. "Who is it?"

"that's not how you continue a knock knock joke." Sans opened the door, poking his head into the room. "got off early. you okay, kiddo? you've been...quieter than usual lately. normally i at least find ya downstairs around this time." He frowned.

Lou blushed. "Oh, s-sorry. I've just been a bit tired and frazzled from school, is all. I'm sorry."

The large skeleton came into the room, leaving the door open. "tired? if that's all then maybe i should get you to nap a little more." He smiled, walking over and ruffling her hair. He loved doing that. Her hair would either fall in a strange pattern or just flop right back to how it was before. _man, this kid needs a haircut._

"Hehe, I'm down for that. Let's go down to the couch though. I'm tired of being in my room all the time."

"fine by me." Sans wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a playful noogie as they headed out the door and down the stairs. He got on the couch first, letting Lou then climb on after.

Whenever they sat on the couch together like this she took one of about two or three spots. One was right on his chest and ecto-stomach, it was the easiest and more simple of the three. Another was more when they had the full intent of just sleeping, no possibility of watching TV. Somehow, she'd wedge herself between his side and the couch cushions before either resting her head on his shoulder or press her face into his ribs. That one always reminded him of a cat, but it was adorable and his personal favorite. While he always worried about squishing her, it kept her close. The third wasn't used as much since it usually ended in Lou falling off the couch, but it was similar to the second position, just on the other side. Instead of being secured between the skeleton and couch cushions, he held her up with one of his arms while she clung to it so they could still watch TV. The reason she feel off, was because if Sans fell asleep, his arm stopped holding her up. Usually, they'd switch to one of the other two before that though.

This time is seemed like they'd be doing position number two. Lou climbed up onto his belly, then slipped to the side and nudged her way between him and the couch. She was small enough to do this and not push Sans off, which just made it even better. The smaller human got comfy against his side before plopping her head down on his shoulder with a small smile, her hair parting just enough to get a glimpse of her whole face. Sans loved when he could actually see her face. He wrapped his arm around her, letting her keep her head on his shoulder while he pulled her a little closer. "heh, squish~!" He smiled, feeling her giggle gently vibrate through his bones.

"Squeesh!" She gave him a mini hug before giggling again and closing her eyes, releasing a content sigh. "Thanks, Sans. I needed this." Her face nuzzled into his ribs a little, making his face turn bright blue. She didn't know so he never held it against her, but his riibs were sensitive, in more ways than one. The action was so cute though, he couldn't bring himself to tell her in fear she'd stop doing it. "Um...Sans? Uh...could I spend the night with you and Papyrus tonight?"

She wasn't looking so she didn't see, but his face only glowed brighter. It had been a long time since she last stayed the night with the two of them. Sure they'd fall asleep every now and then on the couch or maybe after a movie, but it was usually short lived and theyd always retire to their respective rooms later. "i uh...don't see why not, kiddo. what brought that up?"

"I-I dunno." She hid her face in his jacket. "We haven't done that in a while and...I kinda miss it is all...p-plus it's always kinda nice...a-and um...um...I thought it might be nice...we've all been pretty busy and a little stressed out? I just thought it might be nice..." Her voice was a little muffled by the fabric, but he understood her well enough, gaining a lazy grin.

"alright, kid. i'll ask Pap when he gets home. you got my vote so far though." He winked, then ruffled her hair again. "now, how about that nap?"

Lou peeked at him, blushing and smiling softly, giving a small nod. "O-okay. Um...if Paps gets home and I'm not up could you wake me?"

"sure, but you're more likely to be awake than i am." He chuckled, closing his eye sockets. "sleep tight, kid."

"Okay. You too, Sans." She closed her eyes, snuggling up to him again. It was always a wonder to her how a skeleton was warm, but she pushed the thought to the side every time, settling on the simpler answer. Magic.


	25. Fine

**Chapter 25:** ** _Fine_**

Turns out that spending the night with Sans and Papyrus was just what she needed. Soon after their nap on the couch, Lou woke up to find Papyrus watching them sleep. He seemed to do that a lot, just watch her and Sans sleep. She wasn't sure why, but she'd once caught him calling them cute when he'd thought they were still sleeping. That seemed like a pretty reasonable assumtion. He really liked cute stuff like that. Once she lifted her head a little the tall skeleton gave her a warm smile, asking how she'd slept. He looked a bit worn out. Must have been a difficult day at work. She told him she'd slept well, then asked her question from earlier, if they could spend the night together like the first few nights she'd been there. After an orange blush, he nodded and told her that would be great.

For dinner they made pizza bites using crescent rolls. Even Sans helped to make a few, seeing how it was simple and he could add whatever topping he wanted to the inside. Papyrus tried to put spaghetti in his, but Lou talked him out of it, saying they would probably get burnt or wouldn't soften. However, she had nothing against him using marinara sauce instead of regular pizza sauce. She was wary of Sans using ketchup as his substitute, but okay'ed the idea in a few of them, if only to see if it would actually work. Of course, they made a few with pizza sauce just in case ketchup didn't go so good. The human made a mental note to look up recipes with ketchup and some with spaghetti that she could start trying, seeing how the two loved those so much.

They settled in her room for the night. Sans' room was too messy and more private, and they had insisted that it was just too difficult to all squeeze into Papyrus' race car bed. Lou didn't mind, seeing how hers was a little bigger than she actually needed and it reminded her of the first night she stayed over. That memory always made her smile. She climbed in between them, giggling as Papyrus almost immediately pulled her into a hug. "Nyeh heh heh! You have been captured, human!" His arms were always impossible to escape from, not that she really wanted to right now.

Lou didn't really understand what it was with the 'capturing the human' jokes, but she kept telling herself to ask Frisk. She got the feeling it had something to do with their time in the Underground. Everytime she got the chance though, she usually forgot. Frisk once told her the basics, which was how she learned about Flowey being Asriel, but other than that no one really knew what happened down there except Frisk and the other monsters.

The human shrugged, pushing the thought aside as she gave each skeleton their good night kiss on the cheek. It always made them blush and her smile wider. It was cute when they blushed. "Night Papyrus, night Sans."

"night kid."

"Good night human!"

* * *

Mettaton practically screamed when Lou called him the next day to say she'd accept his offer for Friday afternoon. She didn't have class, she could probably ask Grillby if she could work the morning shift or something, and Gaster had convinced her that she may as well try it. Of course, she didn't tell him that last part. He insisted that she come down as soon as possible to pick out an outfit, or get fitted for one, and plan out what exactly she'd be singing. Blooky would be there too, of course. After all, he'd be doing this just as much as she was. She sighed, looking over at the wall. Looks like she'd be going on that make over with Mettaton sooner than she thought.

"Good thing I'm not busy today."

* * *

No sooner had she knocked on the door, the pink robot snaked his long arms around her and yanked her inside, shutting the door immediately and squishing her in a big hug. "Oh darling I'm so glad you said yes! This is going to be wonderful! Stunning! Absolutely fabulous!" He spun around, gently tossing the human into the air before catching her under her arms and holding her out in front of him like a toy doll. With how much smaller she was compared to him and how easily everyone picked her up, sometimes she thought she may as well be a doll. "Hmm...we simply must do something about that hair of yours, look how long it's getting! Keep this up and we won't be able to see your face at all, lovely!" The robot pouted one of his metallic lips as he continued to look her over.

Her outfit for the day was nothing special, a pair of jean shorts and an Avengers t-shirt. She had her purple jacket tied around her waist and a pair of black and white striped stockings. On her feet, her usual pair of worn sneakers. Now that she loked at them, she should probably get a new pair soon. These were on the verge of holes.

"We've got a lot to do before the show later this week darling. I don't know how you're going to memorize your songs in time."

"Well if we do songs I know, I have a lot of those down already." Lou cocked her head to the side, looking at him.

"Really? Fabulous! We'll have to make a list of those! For now, let's get that hair out of your face." Mettaton turned to go out the door. "I'll have Blooky meet us at the-"

"No."

"No? No what? No to Blooky?" He paused.

"No to the hair."

"What? Why? You've been needing a haircut for a while now, love." He rose a brow at her, still holding her up with his arms.

"I wanna wait until the show."

"Why?"

"...I want it to be a surprise."

"A surprise?" She could see the curiosity sparking in his eyes. "For who~?" Oh no, she'd done it now.

"For...the guys..." For a moment, she almost said everyone, but knew that he'd just see right through her. "I don't really want them to find out about this but...I figure it's inevitable, seeing how Papyrus always watches your shows and has them recorded sometimes. So...if you could at least keep from telling everyone that it's me, maybe just keep it to you, Blooky, Alphys, and Undyne? Th-that'd be great..." The human fiddled with her fingers, staring at her faded sneakers. "I figure getting a new hair cut before then would just make it...I-I dunno, probably not obvious but I just want it all to be a surprise."

Mettaton looked at her for a while, only causing her to fidget and squirm that much more under his gaze. "That. Is. So. Adorable!" He squished her against his chest, making the human squeak again. "Alright, we'll postpone the hair appointment for the day of the show, but that doesn't mean we can't have that little shopping spree you promised a month ago." The robot winked. "Dont you worry about a thing, Lou darling. I'll be paying for all of it."

"W-wait, we're doing that now?! N-no! I am not letting you pay for everything! I-I thought we were just going to talk about what to do today!" Lou turned bright red, wiggling in his arms. With that thought, she'd left her bag at home, and by extension, her wallet. Though the wallet was more of an accident. It was always in her bag, she usually always brought her bag, and thus hadn't even thought about it. Until right now.

"Too late! Blooky, darling! Hurry up! We're going shopping~!"

* * *

Lou was bright red the whole ride to the mall, thankful that she still had her hair in her face. She knew that Sans was working at his hotdog job today, so bumping into him was a high probability. _I really hope that doesn't happen. If he sees me in some outfit that Mettaton puts me in I'll die!_

Napstablook was more than aware of his friend's nervousness, and thought he'd help calm them down with some idle conversation. "So...you told Metta yes, huh? I-I'm kinda glad you did. I-it'll be nice to have a friend with me up there..." He gave a gentle smile, watching her peek at him and nod.

"Y-yeah...th-that'll be nice. It's good to know neither of us will be alone, right?" She smiled lightly at him, looking down and tugging at her shirt. She suddenly felt very silly in her outfit.

"Um...I've been thinking...n-nevermind." The small ghost blushed a little and looked away.

"What?" Now he had her full attention. Nervous jitters forgotten, her full focus was on her friend. "Tell me."

"Well...Metta has been suggesting it quite a bit lately and...um...I've been thinking of...maybe asking Alphys to make me my own body?" He looked down, becoming a little flustered. "I mean...maybe...I-I dunno...I-I like being a ghost but...I thought that maybe it would be nice? H-he and Mad both have physical forms so...I-I don't know, it's probably just dumb..."

Before he could try fading out, Lou pulled the ghost into a hug and nuzzled his head. How she did that he would probably never know. "You do whatever you think is best. You wanna have a robot body? You go ahead and find a robot body. Heck, I don't care what you are, Blooky. You're my friend and I want you to be happy." She smiled at him. "You'll be my friend no matter what, right? As long as we're still friends it doesn't matter to me in the end." The girl kissed his head, then let him go.

"O-okay." Napstablook cheered up a little. "I-I'll think about it a little more, then let you know. Okay?"

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

Mettaton was having way too much fun dressing Lou up in different outifts. Some were too close to something he'd wear himself and just didn't work, others were more her style but not the right size or 'uncomfortable' as she said. The style his newest human friend seemed to gravitate towards most was comfort. Looks still mattered in a way, but comfort was always the deciding factor. It could be the cutest top in the world, but if it was itchy or hugged her body too tight the girl would pull it right off and strike it as an immediate no. There were even a few things she'd picked herself, but set them aside after finding the clothes were a little too see-through or felt funny. "For a human who's fine with just about anything, you can be quite picky, darling." The robot chuckled as they put away a whole rack worth of clothes and came out with only a few shirts and some shorts.

Lou blushed red, fiddling with her hair. "S-sorry..."

"Oh that isn't a bad thing! Quite the opposite!" Mettaton smiled down at her. "You like what you like and don't like what you don't, nothing wrong with that." He flipped his metal hair a little, which made the girl blink.

 _It's metal, so how does it move?_

"Just means you have your own fabulous flair!"

"I-I guess so." She rubbed at her neck. "To be honest, this is the reason I usually give up and go to the guys section sometimes. Girls clothes are just so...weird these days! Its either see through or super small or covered in so many holes I'm afraid it'll be a pile of string and fabric when it comes out of the wash! Oh, and don't even get me started on fake pockets. Whoever invented that bull crap needs to be shot." The girl huffed, rolling her eyes and pulling out a light blue blouse to give it a look. She needed more tank tops and undershirts to pair with some of her other clothes. Her white tank top had disapeared and she had no idea where it went or what happened to it. It was too small to be mistaken for one of the boy's clothes. _Maybe it got dropped behind something in the house?_

"Oh I understand completely, darling!"

"I-I don't really wear clothes...b-but I do like the hats...and some vests..." Blooky floated over by Lou, looking at the blouse. "Oh, y-you should try that one on...i-it looks nice."

"Think so? I'm worried it's got too much lace at the top..." She held it up to her chest, looking in a nearby mirror to get a better idea. "Hmm...I'll try it out. Thanks, Blooky."

"Oh! Speaking of clothes, what should we do for your stage costume? It has to be fabulous for your debut!"

"I-I'm going with my favorite hat."

"You mean the Dapperblook one? Oh I love that one! It's so cute!" Lou smiled, then made a thoughtful expression. "Um...I'm not sure. To be honest, the only thing I have to go off of is anime references or j-pop idols. I'm...not sure that would work...at least not with some of the songs I have in mind."

"Anime? J-Pop? Oh I simply must inform Alphys. Maybe she has an idea on something that could work."

"W-what?! A-Alphys?! ...she better not put me in a Kissy Cutie dress..."

"I'll make sure she doesn't, Lou darling."

Lou nodded, then moved on to a little mini skirt. As she held it up to her hips she giggled, softly blurting out a little song. "You got that long haired, slicked back, white t-shirt~ and I got that good girl thing, and a tight little skirt~ and then we go cra-shing down, we come back everytime! We never go out. Of. Style. We never go out. Of. Style~"

Her and Blooky giggled to each other softly as she lightly swished her hips side to side. Maybe she should get more skirts, they were fun!

Mettaton suddenly became ecstatic over the phone, rushing over to Lou and Napstablook. "Lou! Alphys said she has the perfect idea for a dress you could wear, and she said you might know what it would be."

"Oh god, what?"

"Some anime you showed her once, she said you'd know it." His phone dinged and he lifted it up. "Ah! She just sent me a picture. Here, look!"

Lou took the offered phone and looked down at the photo on the screen, her cheeks turning a little red. "Th-this?! R-really?!"

"I-I think it looks nice...y-you'd look good in it..."

"B-Blooky!"

* * *

By the end of the shopping spree, each of them had some new outfits to work with and were all giggling and smiling. Somehow, Mettaton had gotten Lou to try out some make up and get a few things, though it was mostly a new mascara and some lip gloss. To his dismay, she refused to get anything else. Her excuse was that she didn't know how to use it and just wouldn't use it even if she did.

Luckily, they never bumped into Sans, which made Lou feel ten times better about this trip. She loved seeing Sans and talking to him, she really did, but if he saw her in some of the clothes Mettaton had made her try that day? Oh she would have crawled under a rock and stayed there. Heck, she might even have made a trip to Mt. Ebott and gone to live in the underground herself.

The human waved to the robot and the ghost as they finally dropped her off later that night, having a list of songs to practice and a basic game plan for the show that Friday. Her face was a little red as she got up to the door. If the boys did end up watching this show, she'd never be able to live that down.


	26. Showtime

**Chapter 26:** ** _Showtime_**

Sans couldn't shake the feeling Lou was hiding something. Sure there was the shadow thing the past month, but he hadn't seen figurative hide nor hair of the thing since that time he threatened it in the human's room. Had it gotten the hint and decided to leave them alone? Unlikely. Things like that rarely just left because someone threatened them. He hadn't caught Lou talking to herself in her room much either, but that didn't mean much. It was only this past week that he'd noticed something was off. She was quieter, spent even _more_ time in her room than before, and was constantly away from home. Sometimes he caught her hanging out with Napstablook, but before he could get close to talk to them, someone or something always blocked him and they were gone. Now he trusted the reclusive ghost, sure he was quiet and wasn't particularily outgoing, but he was a sweet guy. Since befriending Lou, he came over to visit and hang out more often. Frisk certainly enjoyed seeing him.

The problem couldn't be Blooky, so what? Why was Lou so...distant? Had they done something wrong? Today was Friday and he still had no idea what was going on. She'd left earlier than usual that morning, even before Papyrus was awake. Somehow she must have gotten the early bird shift, because he saw her at Grillby's that morning when he came in, talking to the flame monster himself behind the counter. He wasn't able to hear the conversation, but she seemed to be on her way out. What shocked him the most, was that she kissed him. Most humans didn't touch him, for fear of getting burned. Same thing with most monsters, but she did. She jumped from her toes, pecking him on the temple while using a hand on his shoulder for extra height. Sans had flinched immediately, freezing in place. Surely her lips and nose would have burns. _what was she thinking?!_

Grillby just blushed a flaming blue, his fire hair flaring up and smoking a little while placing a hand to where she kissed him. The human girl turned away from him, giving a cheerful goodbye and heading for the door, past Sans. She didn't notice him, as he purposefully hid in a booth. As she went by he caught a glimpse of her face. No burns. Her hair wasn't even frazzled, nothing! It was like she'd given a kiss to any of her other friends, to him or even Blooky or Undyne! Not a mark on her sweet, smiling face.

 **• • •**

Sans couldn't get any of this out of his head as he lounged on the couch, staring at the ceiling. Papyrus was running around, doing a few chores around the house, occasionally yelling for his lazy brother to do something he knew he wouldn't do. Like pick up his sock. His sockets were blank as he sighed out a breathe he hadn't even realized he'd been holding. _what the hell...why do i care so much about this human anyway? she's barely been here two months...what's so..._ He didn't even finish the thought. He knew exactly what the answer to that last part. She was special, different. Kinda like Frisk but...in a completely new way.

"Sans? Have you seen Lou? She had the early shift at work today and she's on Spring Break...shouldn't she be home right now?"

"i dunno bro...maybe she's at Undyne's house again?"

There was a knock at the door he had no intention of answering, but Papyrus was already halfway there when the front door was kicked completely off it's hinges. Both skeletons jumped, materializing bones and going on the defensive. "ANSWER THE DOOR ALREADY YOU NERDS!" They dropped their guard as Undyne burst into the room, a very flustered Alphys under her arm. Something must be important or exciting if she had kicked the door down so quickly. Normally she at least gave them 30 seconds.

"I-I-I'm s-so sorry! I t-t-told her t-to w-wait!"

"TURN THE TV ON! NOW! WHY AREN'T YOU WATCHING?!" Undyne moved swiftly to the coffee table, snatching up the remote and flipping the television on. Sans barely had enough time to move before the fish sat down, a huge toothy grin on her face.

"normally i'd say some kind of joke here, but...what are you two doing here?" Well, the theory of Lou being at their house was out the window.

"No time for that! You gotta watch today's episode on MTT Channel!"

"But you don't even watch Mettaton's show, and this is an unscheduled time slot. You won't get anything but sta-"

"M-Mettaton's got a-a n-new face on t-today. T-they agreed to sing f-for the time slot today."

"Wowie! Really? Is it anyone we know? A human or a monster?" Papyrus sat on the floor in front of the TV, eye sockets going wide as his favorite robot star stood posing under a spotlight. If it involved his favorite robot or his channel, Papyrus was most likely all over it.

 **• • •**

"Well hello, beauties~! I hope you're all doing well on this lovely afternoon!" The robot struck another pose, the live audience around the stage cheering. The show seemed to be in the concert hall area of his hotel, the perfect place for a concert and a large live audience. The seats were likely filled with humans and monsters alike. "Now we've been hinting at a veeery special guest appearance this past week, a good friend of mine who agreed to help me out just this once~. Who knows though, if we give them a good time they may just become regulars!" He winked, a few girls and even some boys swooned. "Enough stalling, my darlings! It's time for you to meet the stunning, talented, lovely, one and most certainly only, miss Karma!" A pop of confetti fell from above as the lights suddenly went out and Mettaton was off the stage.

They all blinked, the skeletons looking at each other curiously. That had been a pretty short cameo from Mettaton. Normally he hogged as much spotlight as possible. Whoever this guest singer was must be pretty important and he must be very excited to show them off.

A light finally came up on the stage. A small spotlight starting at the very end of a catwalk, revealing a pair of small black ankle-high boots on small feet as the music began to play. The shoes lead up to a set of slender legs clad in striped thigh-high stockings in white and a dark navy blue. Whoever it was, they planned on revealing who it was painstakingly slowly.

 _I can hold my breathe..._

Sans rose a brow, the spotlight revealing more of the outfit. Black and blue, with a puffy skirt and some kind of white pom-pom tail feather puff thing in the back. So far, it reminded him of a dress from some anime Lou watched once while she thought he was sleeping. She'd watch anime while he 'slept' and while her back was to him he'd peek at whatever it was, watching her expressions as it went along. She was always so involved and animated while watching those things. This particular dress he remembered, but it seemed to be a combo of a few, bits and pieces from a more or less nearly identical set of dresses to begin with in an episode where the chatacters had to do a pop idol preformance in front of a demon in an attempt to destroy it. Kyoukai no kanata, if he remembered the japanese name correctly. What episode he wasn't sure, but it had been a favorite of Lou's so he did his best to remember it's name.

 _I can bite my tongue..._

The spotlight had reached the human's lower face, showing the headset mic and what looked to be some kind of lip gloss on their lips. Fingerless gloves that were practically identical to the stockings reached up to the middle of the girl's biceps, or lack thereof. She was healthy, but not particularily strong looking. The camera angle changed, showing from the side and zoomed in on the face, blocking off the upper half of her face and focusing on her lips for the most part. Whoever it was, they had some sort of a-line haircut, so there was no possible way it could be Lou. She still had that shoulder length mess and wouldn't be caught dead on live TV in such a getup.

 _I can stay awake for days if that's what you want...be your number one. I can fake a smile._

She smiled softly at the audience.

 _I can force a laugh._

She gave a tiny giggle, a small hint of emotional pain lacing the sweet sound.

That laugh made Sans wince. Her voice was familiar. That forced smile reminded him of someone, and that pained little laugh...

 _I can dance and play the part, if that's what you ask. Give you all I am._

The girl flashed a bitter sweet smile as she gently swayed her dress and gave a small spin. The camrea had zoomed out again, but still cut off her upper face. Only those in the live audience could see who it was, while those at home were left guessing.

• • •

Grillby looked up at the TV screen hanging above the bar. By request from an anonymous patron, he'd turned a few of them to the MTT channel. He watched curiously at the screen, as did most of the other customers in the bar. One or two were even requesting that more of the TVs be switched to that same channel, to get a better look at who this mystery guest singer was. Whoever they were, they sang with the perfect melody for the song. Sweet, but somber.

 _I can do it... I can do it... I can do iiiit~_

With each 'I can do it' the camera angle changed. First it focused on the small hands clasped against the girl's small chest, head tilted up slightly to imply that her eyes were gazing up towards the rafters. Next, it moved to a previously hidden bow before, one tied from a ribbon of orange and red that resembled a glowing flame that was...strikingly familiar. Finally, it revealed her face.

Half of the bar spit their drinks. Grillby dropped the glass he'd been cleaning.

• • •

Sans and Papyrus stared at the TV with slacked jaws and wide eye sockets. Alphys and Undyne were grinning like madmen, both recording their reactions on their phones. The skeletons didn't disappoint. They looked at each other, then the screen, then each other, then back to the screen. Each time they looked back they sped up until it seemed like their heads would pop off. Finally, their gazes finally rested back on the small brunette human on the screen, standing in the middle of the stage surrounded by awed Mettaton fans. The very same human they lived with.

"LOU?!"

 _But I'm only human, and I bleed when I fall down. I'm only human, and I crash and I break down. Your words in my head, knives in my heart. You build me up and then I fall apart 'cause I'm only huma~an._

She acted out every line. Had going to her head, then to her chest. As the human continued to sing, she continued to act out the lyrics of the song, now recognized as Human by Christina Perri. It was when she got to the chorus near the end. Never had they ever believed she could speak let alone sing with such volume. She even dropped to her knees, head downcast as the little spotlight faded to half of its previous brightness.

 _I...can take so much. 'Till I've had...enough. 'Cause I'm only hu~man! And I bleed when I fall down! I'm only hu~man! And I crash and I break down! Your words in my head, knives in my heart. You build me up and then I fall apart, 'cause I'm only huma-a~an..._

The crowd went nuts. Her expressions were spot on with the intesity of how she sang such simple words. The light went out as she sang that last line.

It was barely visible, but they could make out her small shadowed form getting up and taking a flustered breathe, then moving back to the actual stage for the next song. Sans couldn't help but give a small smile of relief. Even like that, she was still the same, shy girl. Sans could only assume she was thinking of this as what it was, a show. An act. Play the part of a performer. _then again, knowing her, she'll probably get hyper at some point and won't need to act._ The skeleton smiled, sitting back to enjoy the show. When he looked at Papyrus, he didn't need to guess what he was thinking. His brother was most certainly starstruck. _careful, kiddo. i think you just gained your first fanboy._

Papyrus was more than just starstruck, he was smitten. He'd always thought Mettaton was amazing and confident, a great performer and a good friend since leaving the underground. He'd always be a huge fan of the sexy rectangle he'd admired since before ever meeting Frisk and Lou, but now he had another. The skeleton already really liked the new human. She was kind, a little shy and easily embarrassed, had a slight temper, and seemed to genuinely enjoy their company. Since she moved in...no, since they met, not once did he regret walking up to her in the bowling alley and inviting her to join them. In a short amount of time, she'd not only found a spot for herself in all of their lives, but also filled a space that neither of them even realised was missing. He thought she was an amazing person and ever since they met he'd made a personal vow to make sure nothing bad ever happened to her, which he'd immediately think he'd failed had he ever learned of all the fights she'd gotten herself into. Now? She was on his favorite channel, in an adorable dress, singing in that pretty little voice of hers with the cutest haircut he'd ever seen! The only time he'd ever get to hear her voice was that one time during movie night and a few times while she was taking a shower. With the new hair, he could actually see her face now! No more hiding! He could see her face clearly without overgrown bangs obstructing his view. Nothing could make this better. Until he noticed the bow. She was wearing his ribbon. A bright orange glow rose on his face, little hearts suddenly popping into his eye sockets. "W-wowie..."

* * *

Lou took a deep breath, steeling herself for the next song. Her first one had been emotional, a little dramatic, which was what Mettaton loved about her using it as her debut. Now, she was ready to flip the mood to something a little more happy and fun.

When the new music started up, almost the entire audience recognized this one. Shake It Off by Taylor Swift. The whole stage was lit up now, showing a bashful Napstablook with his headset and DJ table. Those who recognized the little ghost from his other minor appearances on his cousin's shows cheered loudly, one or two girls even screaming. He blushed, having no idea he had fans like that. Lou looked back to give him an encouraging smile and a nod. He could do this.

 _I stay out too late! Got nothin' in my brain! That's what people sa~ay, mm mm...that's what people sa~ay, mm mm._

She whipped around to face the crowd, a big smile on her face. True to the high beat song and pop idol outfit she was in, she played the part of the peppy hyper singer.

 _I go on too many dates, but I can't make 'em stay! At least t_ _hat's what people sa~ay, mm mm...that's what people sa~ay, mm mm._

 _But I keep crui-sin, can't stop won't stop mo-ovin', it's like I got this mu-usic in my mind sayin' it's gonna be alright!_

The human was practically bouncing on her toes as she danced to the beat, doing a shoulder brushing motion each time she said 'shake it off'. Everything she did, was improvised. One condition she'd had when agreeing to do this; she got to do her own thing. Mettaton was unsure at first, but seeing how the crowd was having fun it was most certainly worth it.

 _Hey hey hey! Just think while you been gettin' down and out about the liars and the dirty dirty cheats of the world, you coulda been gettin' down to this. Sick. Beat._

Lou model-walked her way down the cat walk towards the very end of it, using emphasizing hand motions as she walked.

 _My ex man brought his new girlfriend, she's like "Oh. My. God." but I'm just gonna shake and to the fella over there with the hella good hair won't you come on over baby? We can shake, shake, shake..._

By the time she got to the end of the stage she had this seductive look on her face as she pointed randomly to those in the audience and did the 'come here' motion with a finger before turning on a heel and heading back to the main stage. She could almost swear she heard a guy/girl faint and a few fan-girl-like screams and just the thought of _her_ doing that brought a huge blush to her cheeks.

* * *

By now, every patron in Grillby's bar had their eyes glued to the screens. Anyone who'd been there before knew the girl on that stage and had their jaws dropped down to the floor. They knew she could play it cool at work but had no idea she was capable of something like this.

"Did you know she could move like that?"

"Move?! I didn't even know she could sing!"

"Did she cut her hair? About time! It looks good!"

"You guys know that girl?" A new customer asked one of the regulars.

"Know her?! She works here!"

"No way! Since when? I don't remember anybody named Karma on the payroll."

"That's just a stage name, dumbass! That's Lou!"

"What?! _THAT'S_ Lou?! Bull crap!"

"I didn't even know she had eyes..."

"Of course she has eyes, stupid! All humans have eyes!"

Grillby just stood there, frozen to the spot since the camera first showed her face. _So, that's what she meant when she said she was busy today..._

* * *

"Kid? What are you watching, sweetheart?" Monster kid's mother came over, looking at the human dancing on the TV. "Honey, not so close to the television, it's bad for your eyes!" She moved them back, noticing the awed look on her child's face.

"Momma! I know that girl! That's the girl I told you about! The one who walks me to school everyday! That's Karma!" They bounced up and down, jumping small circles around the room excitedly before turning back to the screen. "She's so cool!" Their tail wagged, stars shining in their wide eyes.

* * *

Muffet looked up in surprise as one of her customers spit their cider all over a newspaper they'd been reading for the past few minutes. Every now and then they'd check through their phone before going back to their news. Normally she wouldn't pay them much mind and clean it up, but a few of her spiders had stopped to stare at the phone screen over the monser's shoulder. _What's going on?_

A spider trailed down from a web string and waved it's little legs. Normally they'd whisper in her ear about little bits of news and gossip from around the small café, but this one seemed unable to wait or keep quiet. "Hurry! Turn on MTT right now! Lou's on TV!"

"What? Lou?!" The spider woman couldn't grab the remote fast enough, holding it with all six hands and smashing down the button to turn the single small TV that usually just flipped with little advertisements for local businesses to the appropriate channel. Every single one of her eyes widened as she saw the smiling face of her most recent regular pop on, shaking her hips in a brightly colored dress singing her heart out to a live audience. "Oh my prophecy...!" As the spider put her hands on her cheeks, everyone in the little shop turned to look at the girl on the screen. Those who'd seen or talked to her, even a few that remembered her saving their hide, hooted and hollered congratulations for the little human.

* * *

Asgore blinked as he walked into Toriel's house timidly. He'd knocked a few times, even rang the doorbell, but nobody came to the door. "Hello...? Tori? Frisk? ...Flowey?" Had he done something wrong? Their date had gone pretty well, hadn't it? So why wasn't anybody there? He was nervous to go any further than the doorway, not wanting to get a fireball to the face from his ex-wife for trespassing.

As he looked from side to side and was about to simply try again later, Frisk came running over and tugged at his shirt.

 ***You yell for Goat Dad to hurry up and come to the living room.**

Fearing the worst, he shut the door behind him and rushed to the small living room. "What's wro-" He skid to a halt. The former king had been worried that something happened to Tori, but it would seem his fears were misguided. Nothing was wrong. Toriel was watching the TV with furred paw-like hands clasped over her mouth. He knew that face, motherly pride. But of what?

"About time you got here, fur face! Where the hell have you been?! Look!" Flowey scolded the large monster, pointing to the TV with a leaf.

Asgore looked confused, but lifted his gaze to the TV. His eyes widened and his tensed arms, which had been ready to fight off an intruder or rush someone to the nearest hospital fell slack. Lou Snow. In a pretty puffy dress. On TV. Singing and dancing. Okay, now he understood the pride, because he was feeling it too. A big stupid grin stretched over his face and he squealed like a little girl, hands going to his cheeks. He couldn't believe it.

* * *

The show continued for the full half-hour, breaking for commercial now and then to give Lou a rest. By the end, she was exhausted and breathing heavy. Working out with Papyrus had certainly brought up her stamina, but this much dancing still left her drained. She met Metta and Blooky in the back, saying goodbye to the audience before she left.

Mettaton quickly scooped her up into his metal arms. "Oh Lou darling that was absolutely Fa-bu-lous!" He spun her around, nuzzling the girl's cheek. "They absolutely loved you! Today's ratings went through the roof after you came on!"

"R-really?" Lou was a little glad to be off her feet for a little while. They ached from all of that standing and dancing. As fun as it was, she was totally ready for a nap...and maybe a bite to eat. Paps' burnt spaghetti was sounding pretty good right about now.

"Th-that was a lot of fun..." Napstablook floated next to them, giving his trademark small smile.

"Oh you two simply must do another show sometime!" Metta held the human by her underarms at length, grinning wide with sparkling eyes.

"A-another show?! N-no way! Th-this was a one time thing, n-not a regular gig! I've got school a-and working at Grillby's! I don't think I can handle doing this regularly! I-it was fun, Ton-ton, b-but I'm gonna have to give a polite pass..." The human blushed, voice cracking a little from over use. Maybe she shouldn't have done the If I Had You (Radio Mix) by Adam Lambert. Too loud and too many notes to hold.

"Oh that's alright, darling! I'm not asking you to do it every day or even every week. If you feel up to it, we can always figure out gaps in your schedule for maybe once a month. But only if you're up to it, lovely." He winked, setting her down. "Come now, let's get you changed and back home. I bet the boys are just waiting to congradulate their little star."

Lou's face turned red, knowing he'd only say that for one reason and one reason only. He'd planned this. "Happstablook...what the fuck did you do?"

 **Author's Note:** AAAAAAAHHHHHH! Oh my GOD you guys have no idea how long I've been DYING to finally write up this chapter. From the beginning I've been trying to figure out how, what she'd wear, if her hair was gonna get cut, EVERYTHING! -flop- omg...I really hope you guys enjoy reading this HALF as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope I c overed everyone she's met so far in the reactions. Ifanyofyouaskwhygasterisnttheredontaskjustwait whew! For those of you that would like to see Lou's new look and maybe even the dress from this chapter, I'll have it posted on my tumblr page. Just search under Lou or skitz art and it shouldn't be hard to find. Also...um...I've been thinking about this for a while but...would any of you guys wanna hear some voice acting of Lou? I may be able to do it now that I have a computer and everything. Just send me a message over on my tumblr (I also go by Skitzylou there) on whether or not you would wanna hear that and maybe drop a request or two of what you'd wanna hear? I'd be willing to do lines from one of the previous chapters, something you'd just like to hear her say, maybe even sing one of these songs if enough of you wanted it? I'm gonna stop here now. I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS CHAPTER AND HAVE A LOVELY DAY/NIGHT! See you next time!


	27. Proud

**Chapter 27: _Proud_**

Lou was bright red as she walked through the doorway of their home. Knowing that Alphys and Undyne had been in on the secret, she wasn't too surprised the front door was missing, but still paused a little when she saw it completely broken off. Her head was low and covered by a hood as the others in the room turned to see who it was. Mettaton, who'd driven her home with Blooky, announced their arrival.

"Hello darlings~! We have arrived!" He struck a pose behind her, Blooky softly floating beside him, a small smile on his face. Lou remained silent.

"Mettaton! Lou! Napstablook!" Papyrus was the first to come over and greet them, wearing a frilly pink apron with bones, not actual ones, sewn all over it and the words KISS THE COOK in all capital letters. The human only hid more in her jacket. The only reason she hadn't locked herself in her room yet was because she was still hungry. Her skeletal roommate came over and quickly scooped her up into a big hug, nuzzling her cheek. Despite his obvious fanboying earlier at the end of her show, where he'd not only been a blushing bumbling fool, he also made the declaration to make her his special spaghetti when she got home. "Why didn't you tell us you were going to preform for Mettaton on his show?!" He held her at arms length, raising a brow as the smaller human scrambled to pull her hood over her face even more. "You were amazing, Lou!" He gave her compliment after compliment about her new hair, her dress, her voice, every little detail.

Her face became bright red, feeling hot as she finally managed to slip out of the jacket, drop to the floor, and rush upstairs to the bathroom. As soon as she got inside she shut the door, locked it, and dunked her head under the sink faucet as she turned on the cold water full blast.

Sans watched her rush up the stairs, chuckling lightly. "guess all that praise got her pretty _**heated**_."

"Sans! Now's not the time!" Papyrus' cheeks were a little orange.

"i dunno bro, you're looking pretty **_flushed_** too." The shorter skeleton winked as his brother just groaned. "uh...i think your spaghetti might be burning."

"What? That wasn't even a- OH MY GOD!" He rushed back into the kitchen.

* * *

Undyne and Alphys watched happily from the couch. "My ship is totally winning." The fish woman looked to her girlfriend with a big grin.

"D-don't count mine out just yet! Punchline s-still has a chance!" Alphys countered.

She just huffed a laugh and rolled her eyes. "Ha! That lazy bones doesn't stand a chance in hell against Sweater Scarf!"

"H-he does too!" The smaller monster piped up, blushing as she adjusted her glasses. "Y-you'll see! Sans j-just isn't as d-direct as Papyrus."

 **• • •**

Mettaton was already calling someone to come fix the busted door right away, despite the protesting from the brothers about them being able to do it themselves. Of course, the robot refused and said it was the least he could do for Lou agreeing to perform on his show.

"how'd you get her t'do that, anyway? the kid's too shy to sing in front of anybody unless she thinks she's alone or walking to school with her music blasting in her ears." Sans rose a brow bone, staring at the robot as they got off the phone, deed now done.

"I always get what I want, darling." He winked softly, earning a light grimace from the stout skeleton before he just sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly? I'm not sure. I was sure she'd say no or perhaps wait until after the deadline passed without saying anything, but I guess she changed her mind. I know she's a bit embarrassed since you and probably most of my fanbase all saw her, but she did look like she had a lot of fun. I'm hoping for a returning performance someday." He looked over at Sans, glancing to the kitchen for a moment. "You know...she said she wanted it to be a surprise for 'the boys' and I can only guess at what she meant~." The robot smiled and winked as the skeleton just blushed, turning around.

"i'mgonnagocheckonpap bye!" He fled to the kitchen.

"S-see!" Alphys quickly slapped her hands over her mouth at the outburst, blushing and glancing at Undyne who just laughed.

* * *

Lou finally came down, hair damp and a little frazzled from the towel she'd mercilessly dried it with. Her cheeks were still a little red and her jacket was soaked around her shoulders. She was finger-brushing her hair as she paused, looking up to find everyone looking at her. "Um...s-sorry about that..." Her head lowered shyly, managing to hide a little under her trimmed bangs.

Sans was the first to come up now, everyone else simply acting as spectators. He gently plopped a boney hand on her head, rubbing it until she glanced up, smiling even wider that her blush had grown a little. "you did great up there kid, though i am a little curious as to why you're down here and not hiding in your room. you don't need to push yourself if you're not feeling up to it."

The human glanced away, fidgeting a little with her sleeves, slightly revealing the ribbon now tied aroud her wrist. The same one from the show that had been in her hair. "...Hungry..." Her blush grew at the confession and the small grumble from her stomach that came up at just the right moment, embarrassing her further.

He tried so hard to not laugh and covered his mouth with a hand. "pfft...i guess that's a good enough reason kid, but you still don't need to push yourself. i can see if Paps'll bring it up to your room instead."

Lou shook her head and rubbed her arm. "I-I'll have to show my face around you guys sooner or later, right? B-besides...I'm probably being stupid by hiding away just because I'm embarrassed when it wasn't exactly a bad thing...w-was it?" Her brown eyes glanced up at him.

Sans turned blue and flinched. She'd already been cute with her old look, but now that she had her hair out of her eyes he could see her whole expression without anything blocking the view. _damn she's adorable._ He coughed, glancing away. "n-no! i-it was really good, kiddo! you did amazing up there. i'm proud of ya." Her face lit up a little in a shy smile, only causing his blush to get worse. _oh no..._ "come on, Paps made you his spaghetti."

 **• • •**

Papyrus smiled wide as Lou came into the kitchen, trailing behind Sans and taking her usual spot at the table. The skeleton came over with two plates of spaghetti, setting one in front of Lou and one in front of Sans. "I made it exactly how you like it, human!" He poked his head into the other room, letting the others know lunch was ready.

The human looked up as the tall skeleton came back, stopping him in his tracks with just a glance. "Thank you, Paps. It's exactly what I wanted." She gave him a big, happy smile that made an orange glow brush over his cheeks.

"O-of course you did, human! No one can resist the cooking of the Great Papyrus! Nyeh heh heh!" He struck his usual pose, hands on his hips and chest puffed out proudly. Her light giggle caused him to falter, blushing a little more now that he could see her smiling face. He rubbed the back of his neck, grabbing his plate and sitting down next to her, on the opposite side that Sans always took.

Both skeletons watched her fondly as the human ate her pasta, grinning even more as she sighed contently and turned to look up at Papyrus. "You remembered the burnt sauce that I like!"

 **• • •**

Undyne and Alphys watched them from the doorway, both glancing at each other. They watched the two skeleton brothers as they ate with their human roommate, Sans with a hand gently rubbing her head and Papyrus with a comforting hand to her back.

"See? Sweater Scarf is totally winning!"

"N-nuh uh! Punchline is s-still ahead!" Alphys rose a brow behind her glasses. "Though...w-who ever heard of someone who l-likes burnt spaghetti sauce?"

 **• • •**

Mettaton strolled past them, leaning against the doorframe. "I'd love to join you, darlings, but I'm afraid I'll only be staying until they're done with your door, then I'll be on my way." He smiled. "So lovelies, how did you enjoy Lou's first performance?"

Papyrus was obviously the first to answer. "It was amazing!" Stars seemed to glow in his eye sockets. "I'd never seen Lou like that before! Even I, the G-Great Papyrus was stunned!" The human next to him blushed and brought up a hand to hide her face as she tried to finish her food in silence, but Papyrus continued. "I don't know if she picked out the haircut or not, but it fits her really well and frames her face. Her voice was amazing! I never heard her sing like that before! I knew she could sing, but not like that! And now we can really see her eyes too." He smiled wide. "Sans and I love it when she smiles. It was special when her hair would part just the right way to show one of her eyes, but now that it's out of the way I can't wait to see it more often." The compliments and praise just kept coming in waves as the skeleton spoke passionately about his human.

Lou blushed, setting her fork down on her plate as she finished. She could leave now if she wanted, go up to her room and hide away from all of the embarrassing praises and compliments. She was never very good at recieving those anyway. _But...I don't really want to..._ No, she wanted to stay with them. She wanted to be around them, no matter how much it embarrassed her. These guys cared about her. She didn't need to hide from them.

Sans looked over at her, rubbing her head again. He knew just the thing to help mellow her out.

* * *

It took a while for the man to finish the door, Mettaton refusing to let the boys pay and insisted it was his way of paying Lou back, since she had also refused payment for the show. In her mind it wasn't a job, it was a favor. When the robot left, he dragged the fish and dino monster couple with him. All their strange talk about ships had left Lou strangely flustered, leaving both skeletons a little confused. They just shrugged it off, and waved their friends goodbye as they all left, shutting their fixed door behind them.

"So...now what, human?" Papyrus looked down at Lou. He was still loving her new hair, almost hoping he never got used to it so he could forever enjoy it.

"Um..."

"pillow fort. tonight." Sans grinned.

"Pillow...fort?" Papyrus tilted his head at the sudden suggestion. He looked to the human, who seemed to perk up at the idea. In his mind he pictured her with little kitty ears and turned orange again. The image was adorable.

"I-I like that idea." She looked up at the taller skeleton, as if waiting for his approval.

"Pillow fort with the human it is then! Nyeh heh heh!" He struck another of his heroic poses, then rushed upstairs to grab every blanket and pillow he could find.

Sans chuckled, lifting Lou up with an arm and setting her down on the floor. "you take a breather, kid. we'll handle this one." He gave her a sly smile, knowing she must be pretty worn out from today. The human blushed, nodding. _at least she isn't arguing, that's good._ Once Papyrus returned they completed the masterpiece, but didn't climb in just yet. It was still a little early to settle in, and the three still needed to get into their pajamas anyway. That, and figure out dinner. Spaghetti was out, since they'd done that for lunch. Of course if it was up to Papyrus they'd always have spaghetti.

"You wanna just order pizza this time? I don't really feel like cooking today." The girl flopped onto a blanket. "My feet still hurt from dancing in those shoes. They weren't exactly heels, but they were so not meant for long periods of use." This was why she preferred sneakers.

"i'm good with that, Paps?"

"Hmm...I suppose so...but just this once! Next time you want pizza we are making it ourselves!" He pulled out his phone, standing nearby the two as he ordered the pizza.

"come on, kid. we should get into our PJs while he does that." The large skeleton scooped her up bridal style, grinning wide at her squeak and blush.

"I-I can still walk you know..."

"i know."

 **• • •**

Lou sat on her bed, pulling her pajama shirt over her head. Just as her head popped out she was met with Gaster's smiling face. "Gah!" Her hands quickly covered her crotch, since she had yet to pull on her pants and was sitting there in nothing but a shirt and panties. "W-what the hell?!" She hissed under her breathe.

The void skeleton blushed, signing sorry repeatedly before turning away to let her finish. When he was given the ok, he turned back around, looking at her proudly. **YOU SING GREAT** He reached out, trying to grasp her face in his hands or maybe ruffle her hair. His hands still went right through her, but her new hair still moved slightly when he did.

The human smiled, looking up at him. Somehow, his grasp on this world was getting stronger every day. How exactly she wasn't entirely sure, but his body was getting less blurry and instead of a light presence when he tried to touch her she was starting to...feel him. It was more like a light brush than a full touch, but it had warmth behind it. **THANK YOU**

 **PROUD** He signed over and over. He was so very proud of her. She'd taken his advice and tried. **YOU HAVE FUN?**

Lou blushed. She'd been terrified, nervous, worried, excited...just so many emotions all at once, but yes. She had fun. **YES**

The skeleton father smiled again, brushing a hand through her hair and leaning down to press a kiss to her head. **GOOD** He pulled away before kissing her forehead a few times, then backing away. **HAVE FUN** Then he was gone, and Sans was opening the door to her room.

"hey kiddo, you ready?" He walked over, seeing she was in her pajamas and picked her up.

"Wait!" She reached over, grabbing the plush skeleton dog on her bed. "Okay, now I'm ready."

The skeleton smiled and blushed a light blue, turning and walking out of the room. "kid, you are so weird."

"I know, but you love it."

"heh." Sans glanced down at her smiling face. _more than you know._


	28. Morning Compliments

**Chapter 28:** ** _Morning Compliments_**

Giggles filled the small house as the human sat between them in the pillow fort, two skeletal hands roaming through her hair. "Wowie, human! Your new hair is so soft and short!" The taller of the two skeletons dragged his hand towards the back, where the hair was shortest and watched as his fingers repeatedly brushed through it with ease. "I have never seen it so short before! It's adorable!"

"heh, yeah. what my bro said." Sans smiled, bringing a small lock of the longer hair near her face up to his and watched it all fall back to its original place before doing it again. He found humans fascinating and loved how they always had something completely new for him to learn. Like their hair. Sure monsters got haircuts too, but he didn't realize there were so many different kinds with humans. Some might argue that one style was 'feminine' and another was 'masculine', but he never understood that stigma. He saw humans of all genders and kinds with long hair, short hair, curled and straight, tied up or loose, braids and dreads. They were all interesting and could be found on anyone. This one however, he thought was perfect. It belonged to their human, and nothing could change his mind. "you really don't mind this? seems like a pretty big invasion of privacy." He rose a brow bone as she simply shook her head and smiled.

"Nah. I like it when people mess with my hair. Well...certain people anyway. If some random person came up and ran a hand though my hair that'd be creepy. If it's just you guys I'm good." She smiled. Her smiles felt brighter now that the hair was out of her face. Maybe it's because her eyes were visible now. Before, her smiles were based purely off her lips. They could barely tell which were genuine and which were fake unless it was especially forced. Now, with her open book brown eyes in the clear, it was easy. So far, all of these smiles were genuine. Little details gave it away and made it that much brighter.

Sans smiled, pressing his teeth to her head in a light pseudo kiss. "good, 'cause i don't think Paps has any plans on stopping anytime soon." He chuckled.

Indeed. The tall skeleton now had both hands in her hair, trying to style it like he'd done before. When her hair was longer, he liked practicing on her with little braids and buns. With her shorter hair and the way it was cut, that was near impossible in most areas, but he seemed DETERMINED to at least try.

Lou just laughed a little. "I don't mind. It feels nice." She looked down at her lap, blushing a little and fiddling with the hem of her shirt. "Um...th-thanks for not teasing me...a-about the show today." As she said that, the movement of hands in her hair stopped. When she looked up, they were both staring at her.

"Why would we tease you about that, human? You did very good!" Papyrus wrapped his arms around her, pulling her up and into his lap for a big hug. His skull plopped down onto the top of her head, his breath lightly moving her hair.

"yeah, we know how shy you can be, Lou." Sans came up and sat in front of them, the two brothers pulling her into a sandwich hug. "we'd never do something like that to ya. we're real proud of ya." He pressed another kiss to her head. "even if we did tease you, it would only be a little bit."

"Sans."

"what? i can't promise i won't make a joke later." She could feel him smile, and Papyrus groaned.

"You're terrible, Sans. Just terrible." He huffed, blowing some of her hair.

Lou just giggled, her cheeks red as she tried to hug them both back. "I love you guys."

"W-we love you too, human." They blushed a little.

"alright, enough mushy stuff. we all ate, now it's bed time." Sans pulled out Paps' favorite bedtime story and started reading. It wasn't long before he and Lou were fast asleep, the taller skeleton wrapped and tangled around the girl completely. The older brother just chuckled, laying next to them. "night, Paps. night kid." Before he could fall asleep himself, a small warm hand wrapped around three of his fingers. He didn't need to look to know who it was. He'd know those small hands anywhere.

* * *

The next day, Papyrus was making eggs and bacon for breakfast with hashbrowns. Lou and Sans were sitting at the table, happily chatting and exchanging jokes over coffee when the doorbell rang. Everyone paused, looking up. Who would be coming this early in the morning?

"Uh...I'll get...it?" Before she could stand fully, Sans was already out of his seat and halfway to the door. _How did he move so fast?_

"relax, kid. i got it." He went to the door, looking through the peephole. After confirming who it was, he blinked, opening the door. "kid? Tori? what are you guys doing here so early? ...flower..." The skeleton gave the potted plant a light glare.

"Bonehead..." Flowey glared back.

 ***You smile at Sans and wish him a good morning.**

"mornin' to you too, kiddo."

"We saw Lou on TV the other day and thought we'd come by to congradulate her." The goat mother smiled softly. "We would have come yesterday, but Frisk insisted we gave her a day to rest.

 ***You tell Sans she was too impatient to wait any longer and insisted they bring muffins.**

"heh, i can see that. come on in, we were just making breakfast anyway. hey Paps! we got a few more for breakfast." Sans let them all in, blinking when Asgore followed in behind them. He hadn't even noticed the former king behind Tori.

"Good morning, Sans. How are you doing?" He gave a warm smile.

"pretty _**egg**_ -cellent. Paps is _**bacon**_ some breakfast in the kitchen." The skeleton grinned, hearing Tori and Asgore snicker while Papyrus and Flowey groaned.

"SAAAANS!"

"what? no need to _**hash**_ it out, Papyrus. we have guests. _**muffin**_ bad about a little humor in the morning." The skeleton just smiled. "you like coffee, Asgore?"

Lou giggled, turning around in time for a big hug from Toriel. She blushed again, accepting the warm hug from the large goat monster. Her hugs were the best. Fluffy, warm, and not too tight.

"I am so proud of you, child! You were so brave to go up on stage like that!" Tori hugged her tight, but not too tight. She gently set her down, eyes filled with motherly pride. Even though she wasn't her mom, Toriel always seemed to think of just about everybody as her children. Of course Frisk and Flowey were always first in line for that title. "And you did so well!" Her hands gently lifted a lock of brown hair. "Was this your idea, or Mettaton's?"

"Th-the hair was mine. H-he wanted it cut earlier, but I um...wanted it to be a surprise with the show. D-do you like it?" Lou looked up at her.

"Yes. It looks very good on you, child."

* * *

Breakfast with the Dreemurr family was entertaining to say the least. Flowey tried to steal all of the bacon, Frisk avoided being anywhere near the knives, Toriel put snails in her eggs, and Asgore insisted on simply standing to let everyone else have room at the table. It was fun to have the change of pace and also nice to talk to all of them and catch up. Lou didn't get nearly enough time to really talk with Toriel.

After they all left, the girl remembered her phone. She'd turned it off during the show and completely forgot to turn it back on until now. Her face turned red as ringtone after ringtone started ringing off the hook from missed texts and calls.

Sans snickered at the small chorus of beeps and dings, flopping next to the poor human on the couch to listen in on what she'd missed since yesterday afternoon.

15 texts from Muffet with 3 missed calls, 10 calls from Grillby with 3 texts, though their length was what made them intimidating. She had even more than that from classmates, coworkers, her family back in California, basically anyone and everyone who had her number. Her cheeks were burning red as she looked through the texts first, reading over the compliments and surprise that seemed to come in all caps. The messages left in her voicemail were what really got her. Screams of delight, more compliments, even a few people that were probably in the background or nearby joining in and adding their own praises and compliments. She wasn't even halfway through them all when she just put the phone on the table to hide her own blushing face in her hands, letting each voicemail play.

Papyrus came over to sit on the other side of her, smiling softly at the happy praises from her mom and sister. They made sure to ask how she was doing and wish her well with her school work and job, hoping for more updates soon. There were messages from aunts and uncles, cousins, friends back from where she grew up that she hadn't seen since high school. It was nice to hear so many compliments to their human. Not a single bad thing was said. He looked to Lou when the messages ended, reaching a hand over to gently pat her head. "Wowie Lou! That's a lot of compliments from your friends! You're so popular now!"

"Noooooo..." She leaned over until she fell behind Sans, hiding her face in his jacket. "I don't wanna be popular, I just wanna be me...have a quiet life with my friends."

Sans looked back at her as she mumbled into his jacket, chuckling a little. "so you want it to be boring."

"Quiet and boring are two different things." She groaned.

"Explain, human."

"Boring means nothing ever changes, everything stays in one rhythm and never changes, that's not a good thing. Quiet doesn't have to be boring. Quiet can mean things are happy, that things can change but nothing too bad happens. There may be bumps along the way, but things more or less just go with the flow. It's quiet, but happy." She grabbed lightly onto his jacket, feeling the soft fabric between her fingers. Everything was silent for a while before she spoke up again. "Right now, I have that with you guys. I don't want that to change. It's happy here...and there's no where else I'd rather be than right here."

When she finally peeked to look at Papyrus, big tears had formed around bulging eyes. "Oh human!" He reached out and scooped her up into his arms, holding her close for perhaps the 5th time since yesterday and burying his face in her neck and hair. "We are happy to have you here too!" The skeleton hugged her a little tighter than usual, earning him a light squeak from the girl in his arms. "I don't think that any of us could even imagine our lives without you in it."

Sans blushed a bit at his brother's and Lou's words, but smiled and came over to turn this into another Lou-skeleton sandwich. "took the words right outta my mouth, bro." They both gave her a light squeeze, only loosening when the sniffles and shaking started. Both brothers looked at each other with worry before looking to the now crying human. "hey kid, something wrong?"

"Did we say something to upse-"

"I love y-hic-you guys." She tried to wipe away her tears, a shy smile on her lips. "Y-you guys are th-the best g-hic-guys I ever m-met." Happy tears. They were just happy tears.

The skeletons smiled softly, hugging her tight in a hug again, nuzzling her cheeks with their own. "We love you too, Lou."

"even though you're a big dork."

"Sans!"

"You're an even b-bigger dork than I am!" She giggled, letting them wipe away the tears. Just as they started to pull away she stopped them. "C-can we sit like this...a-a little longer? It's...nice."

"fine by me, kid."

"I like this hug too, human."

 **Author's Notes:** Okay, so this isn't about today's chapter but, I was made aware that the link I posted on chapter 26 to the picture of Lou's dress wasn't working? I tried fixing it but I guess fanfiction hates links to others sites SO I instead gave instructions on how best to find it on my tumblr page instead. I will also see if perhaps I can put the link on my profile here so you can just look at it by going there, so if that doesn't work, just follow the instructions or just ask me and I'd be happy to send you a link or even the picture itself. Thanks again for your guys support and I hope you all have a lovely day! See you guys Thursday~


	29. A Royal Guard?

**Chapter 29: _A_ ****_Royal Guard?_**

Over the next few weeks, things slowly calmed back down. Lou got noticed a little in public and sent a few messages through what little social media she used, but otherwise found her life fell back into it's usual routine, which was nice. Work was more or less the same, but only a few small differences. Grillby asked her to sing on the weekends at the bar, but only if she wanted to. He'd expected her to say no, but was happily surprised when she agreed. The audience would be smaller, more familiar. Plus, now that they'd already shown that they liked her singing, she didn't mind the idea of doing something small like that once or twice a week. Sometimes Napstablook came down to play with her too.

Her morning walks with Kid to school had gotten...interesting. They were even more excited to have her around than when they first met, saying they wanted to be just like her when they grew up. Brave, strong, smart, pretty. She'd been unable to listen much more after pretty, as her face was burning red and it took all of her focus just to walk straight. The poor girl was being overloaded by compliments constantly and her mind just didn't know how to keep up. A few of their friends even joined them a few times. It seemed like a pretty even mix of human and monster children, each asking if it was true that she was the same Karma that Kid told them about. Once she confirmed it, they only asked more questions about how they'd first met with the teenage bullies. Luckily, the teens didn't seem to come around the school anymore and stuck to their own school grounds rather than try to torment the youngers kids going to the elementary school with Kid and Frisk.

Muffet didn't ask her to sing at the cafe, much to her relief, but that didn't stop her from showing her friend off now and then. Lou liked Muffet. When the spider woman wasn't working, they sometimes sat with a glass of cider and just talked. Maybe she should ask her to come with her on the next girls day with Alphys and Undyne. She figured it would be fun to have all of her girl friends hanging out. Then her thoughts paused. Should she invite Tori and Mettaton too? Metta always showed interest in girls day, even though he wasn't technically a girl. Last time it came up her friends hadn't been opposed to it either, so it would certainly be an option. Besides, Ton-ton would probably get a kick out of being considered an honorary girl for a girl's night anyway.

Her relationship with the boys was getting better and better. It was a regular thing to find Lou out with Papyrus on one of their jogs or sitting in the park with Sans and just watching the clouds in the sky. In fact, some people even started finding it odd when she was spotted on her own in public. She was also starting to find it odd to go to bed without them, sleeping best whenever they decided to have a pillow fort night or when she'd sit in with Papyrus when Sans read him his bedtime story and she pretended to fall asleep too. Sans caught on at one point, and started joining them or taking her back to her own bed. Once, he didn't quite make it back to his own bed and fell asleep while tucking her in. He'd been draped over the side of her bed before she managed to get him up. He was only awake long enough for her to get him to just stay with her for the night, then fell back to sleep as soon as he lay back on the mattress. Luckily Papyrus had just found the whole thing hillarious and was laughing too hard to chide Sans for being lazy again. On nights when it was just her in her own room, Gaster stopped in to check on her. She wasn't sure when it started or how long he'd been there whenever she woke up in the middle of the night, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't find some form of comfort in seeing the man's smile. Whenever she'd wake up or if he caught her before she fell asleep, he'd brush a hand over her head and place a light kiss to her forehead, signing good night or telling her to go back to sleep.

* * *

Lou knocked before entering the lab, checking in on Alphys. She and Gaster both told her she didn't need to rush or overwork herself with this project, even encouraging her to take a break every now and then to do other things. Yes they wanted to get Gaster out of the void he was stuck in, but at the same time they didn't want to bring stress to their friend. To her surprise, she found the lizard scientist working on what looked like...a robot body? "Heh, I don't think Gaster can possess things." She teased as she came over.

Alphys jumped, a little startled as she looked at the human and the goop skeleton trailing behind her. For a while he'd just been a dark blurr or a presence, but now she was starting to make out a faint shape and white parts. The biggest white part she'd learned was his head while the other white blurrs were his hands. How Lou saw him clearer than she could she had yet to find out. "Ah! L-Lou! Doctor Gaster! I-I'm sorry I-I-I wasn't expecting you to-"

"Don't worry, Alphy, we just came to check on you. How are you?" The human took up a stool next to her, peeking at the robot body. It was similar to Metta's secondary form, but a light blue and not nearly as flashy. "Is this...?" She looked at her, brow raised and eyes a bit wide.

"I-I'm well, t-taking a small break like you said." She smiled shyly, looking at the robot. "Well...you did mention that Napsta has been wanting a physical body lately..." The yellow monster smiled. "D-do you think h-he'd like it?"

Lou leaned over, looking at it more. It's design was more simple and subtle, a thin male whereas Mettaton was still male but obviously more voluptuous and feminine in nature. This body was blue instead of pink. While Metta's body seemed based off a tape recorder, this one was much more modern and based off of a DJ's turn table more. There was a heart on his chest instead of the abdomen like Metta's, in that spot there was instead a spot to place a record. His legs weren't toned and shapely either, just simple cylinders. The metal hair was medium short, curling upwards just at the end of his face and bangs that would cover the eye of not for how it was styled and swept to one side under a backwards cap.

"I think he still needs some clothes, but otherwise it looks great!" She smiled. "When you planning on showing Blooky?"

"H-hopefully in a few days. I want to make sure i-it works. He won't bond to it permanently, that's what he wanted for his...I-I know Blooky doesn't mind being a ghost as much, b-but if he decides he wants to keep the body p-permanently I can change that." She smiled softly. "Um...b-by the way...how are um...you and the guys doing?"

Gaster stood...maybe sat? It was hard to tell, but he stood just behind them and watched them talk. He'd join in more if he could, but for now was more than happy to see them have a good time, especially when the topic of Lou and his sons came up. His cracked smile grew.

"We're doing good." The girl smiled softly. "Last night we made mac and cheese and watched TV until we all passed out on the couch. It was pretty nice." She snickered a little at the memory. "Papyrus almost overslept though. I understand he has an early job, but why does he get up so early everyday?" Lou glanced at her friend. "Is it a healthy person thing or just another Papyrus being Papyrus?"

"H-he used to want to b-be in the Royal guard, s-so it may be a habit from that. H-he trained everyday, w-went on patrol, Undyne was worried he'd get hurt or something s-since he's a sweet guy...she wasn't s-sure he could handle the R-Royal guard and instead of warrior training she t-taught him how to cook."

"Which I am now reteaching him, because really...cooking noodles without water?" She rose a brow.

Alphys just laughed, agreeing with her. "W-why don't you two come in, I-I can make you some tea."

Gaster smiled softly. He informed Lou that he'd stay here to check over the machine.

Alphys was an amazing engineer, but appreciated the second set of experienced eyes to go over and double check places she may have missed. It was one thing that made her wish she had an assistant, especially back underground. She was no chemist or biologist, machines were more her forte. Gaster had been the expert where she faltered. He sometimes praised her skill on blueprints, but still felt inadequate under his gaze sometimes. Luckily, both he and Lou were always there to pick her back up and give her new confidence. Sometimes she wondered how different things would have gone if he'd still been around.

As they went inside the house, Undyne was just coming down, hair a bit damp from her shower as she wore a simple tank top and dark jeans. "Hey! When'd the punk get here?" The fish woman grinned wide, striding over and quickly pulling the human into a headlock, messing up her hair. "How are you and your boys doing~? Fuhuhuhu!" She teased with a sly grin.

"W-we're f-fine!" She blushed red. "A-Alphys was just telling me about how Papyrus used to wanna be in the Royal Guard?" Her eyes glanced up as Undyne released her.

"Yep! Big dork wanted to join the Royal guard so bad he'd do almost anything to get in. Almost anyway. You know him, he's a big softy and couldn't really hurt anybody." She sighed. "That's why I couldn't let him in, not really anyway. And after we got out, Asgore had the guard disbanded, said we didn't need one on the surface anymore." Her face brightened a little. "But they still hired a few of us on as security at City Hall, so that's pretty cool."

"So...I assume the Royal guard were kinda like Knights, right?" Lou took a seat at the table with Undyne while Alphys made some tea. "We don't really have those much here either. There's still security and some people still get knighted in England I think, but none of the fairy tale stuff happens anymore. Hell, I'm not even sure if any of it ever happened."

"What fairy tales?" Both of them looked at her, interested.

"Knight in shining armor coming in to save the damsel in distress. There's lots of old fairy tales like that. A knight or Prince Charming usually came in to slay the evil giant or dragon or demon or something and rescue the princess or fair maiden or whatever. Then they get married or run off into the sunset and live happily ever after, blah blah blah." She waved her hand, rolling her eyes slightly. "A few of those stories have been getting revamped lately though with stronger female roles and sometimes even the girl saving the guy or just herself. Like Brave, Merida didn't even have a love interest. They considered it, but cut that out, lots of people liked that. Uh...there's also a few things where there's more female bad guys or bad guys that aren't stereotypical where instead of being old or ugly, they're actually pretty and manipulative." She glanced at the two monsters, who were both looking at her with big, awe filled eyes. "...What?"

"That sounds awesome!" Undyne slammed her hands on the table. "Way better than real guard duties!"

Lou chuckled. "Yeah, probably. That's why it's a fairy tale, a story. It's fun." She smiled, looking down at the table and making circles with her finger. "Huh...I bet Papyrus would look pretty h-...cool...cool in a suit of armor." Her cheeks turned a little pink, imagining the tall skeleton in a big suit of armor, his scarf cape tied on like an actual cape and she only blushed even more. It was definitely a nice thought. Then she imagined Sans in armor and nearly choked on air. Curse those cartoons where a fat guy put on armor and the plate around the abdomen dented out or popped off entirely. After a few gut-busting tries she finally got a more realistic image in her head. He wouldn't look half bad either, but she figured he wouldn't nearly have the drive to do it. Maybe a scientist like Alphys? She glanced up, imagining him in a lab coat and a pair of glasses, blushing again. _Yeah okay, that was pretty hot too._ Dammit she was becoming far too attached to these skeletons.

Alphys and Undyne noticed every little change to her face, now that her hair was no longer an obstacle. They never noticed how expressive she was with it out of the way. Her every thought was so plain on her face that all that was left to wonder was exactly what she was thinking about. Without exact context though, they both at least knew who was the subject of her thoughts.

Undyne's smile grew into an almost shark-like grin as she glanced at Alphys. "Hey Lou, that fairy tale stuff gave me a pretty good idea. What if we had a way to make Papyrus a knight?"

"Hm?" She snapped out out of her thoughts, looking at the fish monster. "You mean like a cosplay or something? He'd probably love that." She giggled. "He's been dying to do some live action role playing with those Gravity Falls cosplays we made."

Alphys' eyes lit up. "Ohmigosh we could do that!"

"Do what?" Undyne looked back at her, surprised.

Lou's eyes widened, getting the same idea. "Ohmigawd yeah! We could make Paps some armor, do a rescue the damsel in distress thing in like the park or something, and maybe ask Asgore if he could like do an honorary knighting!" She was already bouncing in her seat.

"YEEEAAAAH!" Undyne stood up, knocking over her chair and startling Alphys behind her. "LET'S DO THIS! I'll get started on getting that armor! That big dork is gonna get some real armor, not some wimpy cardboard cosplay crap!" She dashed into the lab, rushing right past the machine covered by a sheet and the robot body on the table as she went to the back to look for spare metal.

Gaster just blinked, coming into the kitchen and looking at Lou and Alphys as they chat excitedly in the kitchen. What had he missed?


	30. April Fools?

**Chapter 30:** ** _April Fools?_**

It took a few weeks to get the armor itself done. Undyne insisted it had to be perfect, enlisting Lou's help in finding Papyrus' sizes. There was no way she could get those on her own. Even with his innocence and tendency to be a bit naive, it would still be a bit weird to as Papyrus if she could size him for exact measurements, so she enlisted the only help she could think of. His brother. When they told Sans about the idea, his grin was so big she swore it was going to crack his skull in half. He quickly helped in getting some of the other ex-Royal guards to help. Everyone from the underground loved Papyrus, he was a sweetheart and once they heard about the surprise for him they were more than happy to join in to help. This was the guy's dream afterall.

The dogs, the bunny, and the dragon from the guard helped with figuring out just where they'd do this and with the set up. The ex-guard members would play the parts of the minions to the bad guy, who Undyne decided had to be her. Why she wanted to be the bad guy, none of them knew. No magic was to be used. Lou didn't understand why, but Sans and the others explained there was too much of a risk for a FIGHT to start and they didn't want one of those.

"A...fight? But how could that happen? It's just pretend and everybody would just be playing." Lou looked at them, a little worried when they wouldn't tell her. She trusted that it was for a good reason, but still wished she knew why and what so that she could help make sure nothing happened either. All Sans would say was it wasn't a fight they were talking about, but a FIGHT, which only made her even more confused. There must be some kind of context she was missing. Maybe she could ask Gaster later.

Alphys ended up being the narrator/person who tells Papyrus the mission to save the princess and leads him on his quest. Lou and Undyne joked a few times about her being the Navi to his Link, but cuter and less annoying. She wasn't sure she'd be up to the task, but was glad she'd at least get to bring a scroll with her that had what she needed to say written on it. The basic idea was for this 'mission' to be set up like a scavenger hunt. There'd be a riddle at each location, giving a clue to where the next clue would be until finally Papyrus would be lead to the 'tower' where he would then fight the bad guy and save the princess. However, at the location of each clue, would be a minion guarding it. Papyrus would then have to defeat them, not actually defeat them of course since this was just for fun, and then retrieve the clue and move on to the next location. Another thing they decided was for Papyrus to receive peices of his armor as he went along, like in a real RPG. Along with the clues, he'd gain another piece of armor after defeating a minion. For example, one minion would have the legs and boots for the armor and the next might have the gloves or the chest plate. One thing they all agreed on was that he'd start off with a plastic sword and shield.

They wanted a part for Sans to play as well, and after a while of thinking they finally decided on making him another party member in Papyrus' quest. Sans wanted to be close to his brother to make sure nothing went wrong, so it was a perfect fit. The hard part was figuring out _what_ he could be. He didn't plan on actually doing any of the play battles, so some kind of minor warrior or archer type character was out. Finally they just decided to make him the wizard Sans, brother to the Great Papyrus and a master of puns, always joining his younger sibling on his fantastic adventures.

When the news finally hit Toriel she was absolutely delighted at the idea, volunteering to help with costumes for everyone. Frisk, Muffet, and Mettaton all helped. Asgore seemed to like the idea too, admitting that he'd felt bad having to decline Papyrus' request to join when they first left the underground and tell him there wouldn't be a Royal guard anymore. The poor goat dad was more than happy to do this 'knighting' for him. They got him a plastic sword from one of Lou's old Halloween costumes that she still used for cosplaying and he started practicing it on Frisk and Flowey all the time. Frisk thought it was the best and was always first to volunteer while Flowey always grumbled when it happened to him. He'd never admit it out loud, but he thought it was pretty fun too.

They decided to set it up in the woods near the school and the park. Since Lou and Papyrus went there often, it wasn't too hard thinking of places he might recognize in a riddle and get started on making the tower. In all honesty, it wasn't a real tower, just an old tree house they found a while back and started renovating. Once the thing was back to being stable and safe to be in, they got to work decorating it and making it look like a castle tower. It took a lot of paint and cardboard. After hours of protesting, Alphys and Undyne finally got Lou to agree to being the princess. When she tried to ask why her, they just smiled amongst themselves. Sans had no protests to anything, but asked Alphys to set up cameras around the sets so they could watch it again later. Papyrus would probably love that. Once everything was ready and everyone was sure they had their parts good to go, all that was left was a date.

Lou smiled as she looked at them. "I think I know the perfect day."

"oh yeah? when would that be, kiddo?"

"How does April Fool's Day sound?"

* * *

Papyrus woke up with a groan, looking at the calendar. April 1st, his least favorite day of the year. He liked jokes and pranks just as much as anyone else, but his brother did them so often that when it came time for there to be a whole day revolved around the subject? He wanted to just climb back into bed and stay there until it was over, and he hated being lazy in bed! With a sigh, he got up and rubbed at his face. _Might as well get things over with, right?_ He took his shower first, thankful there wasn't any food dye in his soap or a fake spider on the handle. His towel hadn't been tampered with and his toothpaste didn't dye his teeth some other color when he brushed his teeth. Something was off.

He passed by Lou on the way to his room to get dressed, giving her his usual good morning while she gave him his. Just as he finished pulling on a fresh pair of pants, a loud scream rang through the house. Without bothering to put on a shirt yet he rushed to the source.

Lou poked her head out of the bathroom just as Papyrus got to his door and opened it. She was looking down towards the stairs as she yelled. "Sans! I swear to god I'm going to fucking murder you in your sleep!"

Sans barked a laugh from the kitchen. How was he already up and downstairs? "what's a'matter, kid? if you wanna be ready you gotta **_ketchup_**."

"Sans!" She snapped, ducking back into the restroom to clean up whatever had caused her to scream in the first place.

"guess it **_mustard_** not be your lucky day."

"Augh! Seriously Sans?! You replaced my toothpaste with mustard?!"

"you should see where i put the relish." By now the prankster was otside the bathroom, grinning like a madman and looking at Papyrus with raised brow bones.

"UUUGGGHHH! I. Will. Destroy you." She came out with a towel around her waist, ketchup staining the pajama pants in her fist.

Papyrus got the picture now, and had a good idea where his brother had put the relish if this theme was going to continue. Ketchup packets under the toilet seat, mustard in the toothpaste. Well, at least it seemed like Papyrus wasn't his current target. _Poor Lou._

* * *

Poor Sans. After the trick with the bathroom, he found himself being subject to more revenge pranks. It started off small with a whoopee cushion in the couch and a confetti bomb in the pantry. He had to congradulate the girl on those. She wasn't very good at thinking up puns on the spot, but she could pull a mean prank pretty quickly.

What really set it off, was the hot sauce. They planned to do the knighting adventure for Paps at around noon, giving him plenty of time to play a few pranks on his roommate. The agreement had been that Papyrus would be off limits for the day, but there was nothing in the rules that said he couldn't prank the human. He didn't think she could do any of the big pranks like his mustard and relish stunt that caused actual minimal damage that needed cleaning or fixing, so when he went to grab his ketchup to take a swig, he didn't even consider that something could be different. He missed the microscopic hole in the foil guarding the fresh bottle from contaminants as he took a big gulp.

If he had eyes they'd be bulging. Dropping the ketchup on the table he rushed to the sink and started dousing his mouth with water. Hot sauce. She'd added hot sauce to his ketchup! And not the mild stuff either, no. This was heavy duty stuff that made your eyes burn and cleared out your sinuses. For Sans, he was sure smoke was coming out of his skull by the time he finally got the taste out of his mouth. Oh, it was on.

Throughout the rest of the morning the two were at it, pulling prank after classic prank on each other, varying in levels of complexity and sillyness. Luckily none of them went too far, and it was all childish fun. Fake poo, silly string, a few more confetti bombs, any and all classic minor pranks you could think of. They did it. In the end, they were both standing in front of each other with whipped cream pie on their faces, having both ended with the last idea they could think of. Pie to the face.

"alright, kiddo. it's just about time to get ready for the thing. draw?" He held out his hand.

The human looked down at his hand, then back to him. "Draw."

 **PFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTT-BZZZZZZZZZZT!**

They pulled away, looking down at each other in shock before holding up their hands. Sans had a whoopee cushion in his hand, and Lou had a child's buzzer toy. Both stared at the other before busting up in laughter, parting ways to get cleaned up and ready.


	31. Here Begins the Noble Quest

**Chapter 31: _Here Begins the Noble Quest_**

While he was thankful to not be the target of any pranking for the day, Papyrus wasn't sure about how to feel with the small prank war going through the house between Sans and Lou. When it finally did end, he thoroughly scolded both of them for making such a mess and ordered that they both work together in cleaning it up. He still thought they were both acting a bit strange, but as long as nothing seemed wrong and no one was getting hurt he didn't see much reason to push. Besides, it was April Fools and everything was always strange today. _Then again Sans didn't say any comments about having to clean and actually did it..._ If it continued into the next day however, then he'd get worried and say something.

"Sans! Have you seen the human? She said she would go jogging with me in a bit but I can't find her anywhere! ...Sans?" Papyrus looked around, but it didn't seem like anyone was home. "That's strange...they were all here just a minute ago..." While he stood there scratching his skull, he got a text on his phone from Alphys asking him to meet her at her house. The skeleton was a bit suspicious, but made his way over anyway, leaving a note on the counter for the two to read should they come back before he did.

* * *

Whatever it was Papyrus had been expecting at Alphys' house, this wasn't it. Alphys was in something he could only assume was some form of cosplay and holding a scroll in her claws. It looked like...something out of one of Lou's fairy tale books that she'd shown him a few times. She wore a simple dress, nothing over the top, but it was definitely not from this era. A green servants dress from somewhere in medieval times perhaps. If he was completely honest it looked quite nice on her.

"Um...Alphys? Why are you...dressed like that? You look very nice, but I'm confused on why...oh nevermind, you said you needed me for something?" The skeleton hoped it wasn't anything too weird. He was still worried about Lou and Sans for disapearing on him like that.

Alphys adjusted her glasses and blushed, clearing her throat before unraveling the scroll. "Ahem. Um...T-the Great Papyrus!" Something was definitely strange, she never called him anything more than just Papyrus. "Y-your valiant services have been requested by th-the king!"

"Alphys, if you're talking about King Asgore didn't he step down and tell us to all just call him Asgore or Mr. Dreemurr? I-"

She quickly pulled the scroll up to hide her face and continue reading the letters on the scroll. Upon closer inspection, it was handmade using paper towel rolls and cardboard. "I-it seems that the princess h-has been captured by the evil um...the evil uh..." The yellow dinosaur started shaking, small snickers and snorts could be heard. Was she...trying not to laugh? "B-by the evil M-Mega Super Dark Knight Undynia."

"Princess? Undyni- you mean Undyne? Alphys what's-" Again, she stopped him and just kept reading. It would seem Papyrus wouldn't be getting any answers until after.

"T-the king has heard word of you and your brother's courageous and great exploits and asks for your services t-to save the princess from the clutches o-of Undynia! He has heard that you are a master of puzzles and an e-excellent warrior, both skills that you will need to complete this quest! Th-the fate of the kingdom depends on your success. D-do you accept this noble quest?" Now that she was done, Alphys lifted her gaze to look at Papyrus.

"Did you say...puzzles?" A huge grin formed on his face and a childish glow in his eye sockets. And his brother was to be involved? He was still worried this might be some kind of elaborate prank but it was unlike any his brother had ever done before. This was scripted, planned, involved puzzles, and apparently had others helping. _Sans couldn't be behind this one so it must be safe! ...Right?_ Pushing those thoughts aside he stod tall and thumped a fist to his chest. "The Grrrreat Papyrus accepts this noble quest to save the princess from Undynia! My brother and I shall have her back before you know it!" His posture faltered a moment as he looked around. "Speaking of which, where is Sans? I haven't seen him since I told him and Lou to clean up their prank war mess in the house..."

"i'm right here, bro." As Papyrus turned around, he saw Sans in a blue bath robe with stars either drawn onto it with paint or sewn and glued on. He still wore his usual white turtle neck and black sports shorts underneath. On his head was a night cap dyed to be the same blue as the robe with more stars and some glitter. Instead of pink slippers he was wearing blue sneakers. The blue on them looked like it was scribbled onto white sneakers with a sharpie or marker. "the **_Sans_** ational wizard Sans, at your service." When the smaller, stout skeleton bowed his head the night cap flopped forward and jingled. A small bell had been sewn to the puffy tip.

"Sans...? Oh my god! That is the most lazy wizard costume I have ever seen! And where is your magic staff or wand? Don't wizards need wands or potions?" Papyrus put his hands on his hips.

"sorry bro, i sat on my wand and Undynia's minions broke all my potions. all i have left is this health potion." He held up a ketchup bottle with some tape and paper on it, the words HEALTH POTION were scribbled on in crayon and a child's handwriting. "they even took your armor, bro."

"What?! ...Wait, I have armor?" Papyrus blinked and tilted his head to the side.

"yeah bro, remember? we sent it to the blacksmith for repairs and they took it." Sans replied with a wink. "looks like we'll have to get it back before we can save the princess. let's get your sword and head out." He looked to Alphys. "you coming, translator?"

"Translator?"

"Y-yeah! The princess left clues to where each piece of armor is, b-but had to put them into a special code! I-I am the only one who can translate it!" Alphys stood a little straighter, fixing her glasses. "Th-the first clue was left on th-the back of her randsome note! 'I am the place where children play, where flowers sway and laughter stays. My home is small and a parent soon calls. What am I?'" She looked up.

"Hmm...children play...flowers and small...why, that must be the park!" Papyrus stood tall, puffing out his chest. "We must hurry at once! The princess cannot be kept waiting!"

* * *

The park was mostly empty, save a few children climbing the monkey bars. Some parents watched close by, also keeping an eye on the strange monster sitting in the corner by the sand box. It looked like one of the dog monsters that often ran around and played with the kids, fetching sticks and any other toys that got thrown for them. Normally the kids would be over there now, petting their head and telling them they were a good and pretty doggy, but today they just watched.

This particular dog monster, was Doggo. His seeing eye dog sat next to him, panting and wagging it's tail. Since Doggo couldn't see anything that didn't move, this dog told him when there was something he couldn't see. Like a pole or a child that didn't move. Today, his dog had a little hat with tiny horns on it while he wore a similar hat and his old outfit from back when he lived in Snowdin as a guard. Granted it wasn't much different from what he wore on a daily basis anyway, but none of the others seemed to mind when he picked it out. The tiny horns on his hat and the spiked collar seemed to be enough. The humans had joked about him making an adorable demon dog, but before he could protest they were petting his head and he'd forgotten all about it.

"Doggo? You are one of the evil minions for the quest?" Papyrus walked up, now holding a plastic shield from a costume store and a foam sword. He had a slightly confused expression on his face, but otherwise looked like he wasextremely excited for whatever it was they were doing.

Doggo couldn't help but smile a little as his seeing eye dog explained everything to him. Once he got a basic idea of where everyone was, he stood right up and brandished a foam knife that Undyne had made out of styrafoam and paint. "Grrrrr, I am not Doggo! I am...uh...Blade Barker! Trusted servant of the Dark Knight Undynia!" Behind him was a plastic treasure chest. "I will not let you pass and retrieve the piece of your armor! If you wish to get it back you will have to defeat me in battle!"

By now, the children had stopped climbing on the playground and were looking in the direction of the silly monsters. The only one not completely dressed up was the tall skeleton, except for his red cape and toy weapons. Even the parents were now watching in curiosity. They frequented this park and had often seen Papyrus running around with Lou or seen Sans napping on the bench while the same human fed the birds. The only one they didn't know was the small yellow dinosaur in the green dress, but figured she must be a friend. One of the parents had pulled out their cell phone to record them. "Oh this is so cute."

Papyrus faltered a moment in his heroic stance, glancing at Sans. "A battle? But...I don't want to FIGHT, Sans. He could get hurt."

"no no, bro. it's okay. he doesn't mean a FIGHT, he means pretend."

"Y-yeah! You just pretend. I-if a weapon touches your arm or leg you have to pretend that limb was cut off and can't use it."

"Oh! Alright then! That doesn't sound so bad!" Papyrus brightened and looked back to Doggo, taking his stance again. "I, the Great Papyrus, accept your challenge! I shall defeat you and save the fair princess from the Mega Super Dark Knight Undynia!" He pointed the toy sword at Doggo and the battle began.

Doggo's seeing eye dog sat on the sidelines, barking out things that weren't moving for their owner. They playfully bat and slashed at the other, managing to block most of each other's attacks. Papyrus managed to get Doggo's legs and block most of his slashes with the toy shield. The canine did however manage to land a blow on his arm, causing him to have to lower the shield and let the limb go limp as the battle continued. Off to the side the children at the park giggled, cheering on Papyrus.

After the two exchanged a few more good parrys and blocks, Papyrus managed to find an opening and poke Doggo in the chest with the toy sword. As that happened, the dog made a face and fell onto his back. "Blah! I have been defeated! Curse you, Great Papyrus!" The dog monster then shut his eyes and stuck out his tongue comically, his tail wagging a mile a minute.

Papyrus chuckled, reaching down with his 'uninjured' arm and pet his head. "Good boy." This made Doggo's eyes go wide and a big grin form on his face. Man the guy loved being pet. Now that the first minion was defeated, the skeleton made his way to the chest and opened it. He blinked confused at the item inside. "I...there must be a mistake, these aren't mine." He pulled out the metal boots and pants, showing them to Sans.

"of course they are bro. what's a heroic knight without his suit of armor?" The smaller skeleton grinned wide as his brother's face turned from one of confusing to one of excitement.

"These are mine?!"

"yep."

"You guys got me real armor?!"

"yep."

Papyrus almost squealed, rushing off to go put them on. When he returned, having gone to change in the men's restroom, he was wearing his dress shirt from before and a shiny new pair of metal boots. The boots had come with the leg and pants section as well, completing the lower half of the outfit immediately.

"T-they seperated your armor into four parts. Doggo had the boots and pants. We still need to retrieve the ch-chest plate, the gloves and arms, and the h-helmet." Alphys pulled the next clue from the bottom of the chest. "H-here's the next clue! 'Congratulations on defeating your first foe! You are now one step closer to completing your quest! Do not fear, my fair knight, I know you have what it takes to succeed. Can you solve this next riddle? Ding dong ding, my bell cries out. Dong ding ding, the bell did ring. Hurry up or you'll be late! It's my job to educate.'"


	32. Puzzles and Ponderings

**Chapter 32:** ** _Puzzles and Ponderings_**

Papyrus rushed to the school, dragging Alphys and Sans along with him on their little quest. Since the school was of course currently in session, they didn't actually walk onto campus grounds. If they did that they'd get in trouble with the teachers and staff. After a small bit of searching, they found the next enemy. Next to the playground they found their next minions, Dogaressa and Dogamy, the power couple of both Snowdin and the Royal Guard.

They were dressed up as a two-headed dragon. A simple robe sewn together as their body with fake cardboard spikes taped all over. Some children playing at recess were petting them through the fence, their tails wagging happily as Papyrus and his party arrived.

"Is that the Gweat Papywus that you told us about, miss doggy?" A tiny girl pointed through the gate at the skeleton man.

Dogaressa looked up, blushing lightly. "Yes! Oh dear, quick, they're here. We have to get into character, honey."

"Oh! Yes! Sorry, my love." Her husband stood up with her, picking up the foam spears that they'd both been given for their weapons. He snuck a quick kiss before turning to their friends. The children in the playground erupted in a small chorus of ew's, aww's, and small giggles.

The dog couple gave a deep growl, moving in front of the chest. "Halt, great warrior Papyrus! We can see that you got past our comrade, but you shall go no further! You shall not pass!" The children cheered and clapped, more rushing over to watch the show.

"Oh you sound so strong dear! It gave me chills."

"Did it? I practiced all week on that." Dogamy's tail wagged as he looked over at his wife and they nuzzled noses. More ew's and giggles came from the children.

Papyrus blushed a little. He always thought these two were an ideal example of a loving couple. They were hardly ever seen apart and he'd never seen them fight. He was sure they didn't always agree, but anything they did disagree about seemed to be solved quickly and with little canon fire. Maybe someday he'd have something like that? Someone he could watch shows with on the couch and cuddle at night, someone to go on runs with him in the morning or give him kisses before he left for work. If he had someone like that he'd return their love and affection tenfold. If they gave him a loving kiss on the cheek he'd kiss them all over their adorable face. ...Why did Lou come to his mind in all of these thoughts? He shook his head of those thoughts and focused back on the two dogs. "I think not, foul beast! I shall defeat you and rescue the fair princess!" He took a heroic pose and pointed out his sword at the two. "En garde!"

The play battle then started, going much like the fight with Doggo. This time, the two attacked in sync, much like they did back in Snowdin town, but with toy spears instead of their matching axes and not with a battle screen popping up for them to use their magic. Papyrus knew their attacks, having watched them train and even training with them back when they were underground. He dodged or blocked, then hit when he had an opening and repeated the process. Some blows got blocked while some hit their mark. He got their left arm and both legs. After managing to knock them on their back he pointed the sword at their chest.

"Yield. You've lost, double dog dragon." Papyrus huffed. This battle had been a little more time consuming than the last. Maybe he shouldn't have run all the way over? It wasn't his fault, he was excited! He was on a quest to save the princess!

Speaking of which, who was the princess? Perhaps it was Frisk? It would make sense since they were Toriel's child now. Maybe Flowey even? He wouldn't mind, but the flower had been quite mean underground with Asgore and after finding that his friend had been using him was heartbreaking. They were still friends despite the fact, but he had a hard time talking to him sometimes. The flower always looked away with a guilty face. Those were the only people he could really think of to play the part of princess, even though Frisk was non-binary and Flowey was a boy they could still both play as a princess if they so desired. Frisk looked rather cute when they wore dresses for fun. Dress up with Lou was always their favorite. Flowey always played the talking table decoration or as the melodrama villain that got pulled into being there...or so he claimed. The minions so far were all from the Royal Guard, so he could only assume the rest followed that theme. Would Lou be a minion? He couldn't see her as one. Besides, he'd have a hard time if he had to fight Lou. He really liked the human and didn't want her to get hurt. She must have a part in this game too, right? Why else would she have gone missing? But what could her part be...?

"Grrr...fine, we surrender." The dogs grumped playfully. Sans walked over and gave them both a pet on the head, watching them smile and wag their tails.

"heh, you gonna open the chest bro? your next piece of armor should be in there."

Pulled from his thoughts, Papyrus lifted his head. "Ah! Yes!" He went over to the toy chest, opening it and retrieving the next piece to his armor. At least now Sans' questions the past few days now made sense. Each piece fit perfectly. He went behind one of the trees to put the new chest plate on, completing his look to now seem like he was wearing some kind of sleeveless armor. The cape-like scarf he always wore easily fit and flowed out behind him like a real cape. As he walked out with the new part of the suit the kids on the playground gave a collective ooh, making him blush and take a heroic pose. "Nyeh heh heh! The Great Papyrus is almost ready to save the princess! Alphys, what is the next clue?"

Alphys picked up the piece of paper at the bottom of the chest, looking it over.

As she worked on decoding it, Sans walked over, curious about the code their _princess_ had used. His sockets darkened as he saw what the letters had been replaced with. _wingdings._ Why had she picked wingdings of all things? Not ROT1, not transposition, morse code, not even a caesar shift cypher or monoalphabetic substitution. She'd written it in wingding font, out of everything and anything else she could have chosen. He could still understand every symbol and what it stood for.

"over rocks and through woods i run, with me you always have good fun. in summer and spring the children play, but through winter and fall they do not stay. you've done quite well, you're on the brink. now how about a we stop for a drink?" Sans rose a brow. "huh, that's a weird one. any ideas on what it could be, Pap?" Alphys flinched when he read the riddle out before her, looking up at him with wide eyes as if he'd blown some big secret.

"Hmmm...it is quite strange...summer and spring children play, but not in winter or fall. Perhaps because it is cold? Drink...I do not think that was meant to literally get a drink, but perhaps still a clue?" Papyrus pondered, a skeletal hand scratching his chin.

"Mistew Papywus, siw?" The little girl from before raised her hand from behind the gate, lightly waving it. She had a hard time pronouncing her R's still. As Papyrus turned his head to look at her, she straightened. "M-maybe the widdle is talking about watew?"

"Water? Water...ah ha! Of course! The creek! Thank you, tiny human child!" Papyrus smiled wide, striding over and giving her a small pat on the head through the gate. The girl giggled, smiling even more that she was able to help.

"Now go save the pwincess, mistew Papywus!"

"I will, small human! Thank you!" He grinned, leading his friends off to the next location.

* * *

Lou sat up in the tree house turned castle tower, sitting on the wood and twirling a small flower between her fingers. "Are they getting close yet, Undyne?" She peeked through the railing she sat beside to look down at the fish woman below.

Undyne was wearing her old Royal Guard armor, helmet under her arm and eyes gazing down at the footage on her phone. The cameras Alphys set up were programmed to follow Papyrus and his group as well as record it to view later. Lou left her own phone at the house, having nothing to carry it in with her dress and seeing no need since everyone would be right here anyway. "Not yet, Lou. They've still got two groups to go. They're making good time though. At this rate, we might be early going to Muffet's."

Asgore sat in the castle tree house with her, but more towards the back. After Papyrus saved the "princess" he was to come out and knight him. while waiting, the two had been talking or playing cards. The large goat dad was highly impressed that a monster his size could even fit up there. The others had rebuilt the tree house very well. Whoever originally owned this had also picked a very strong tree, one of the biggest in the woods surrounding the suburbs of Ebott town. With enough work it could easily be converted into a whole tree house or to connect with the other large trees nearby for a tiny tree village with this one as it's center. Lou had always wanted to try doing that. It would make a dream tree fort and the perfect place for everyone to gather and just hang out.

As Asgore stood up to look around a little more, Gaster made his appearance in front of Lou. He smiled as she greeted him quietly, complimenting her dress before saying what he wanted to inform her of. While they were all here, he'd been following his sons to keep tabs on them and get a front row seat for their shenanigans. **S-A-N-S KNOW**

Lou flinched as she looked up at the goop skeleton, almost talking out loud. Looking around to make sure the others weren't looking, she signed back. **WHAT?**

Gaster explained slowly through signing that Sans had been able to translate her puzzle code without a cheat sheet like she'd given to Alphys. He just read it right off the page, like she now did. **ME THINK S-A-N-S REMEMBER**

* * *

Sans looked around curiously as they reached the creek. The shadow that had once been following Lou had been following them this whole time until now. He'd felt a bit awkward and stayed on the defensive with it following them around. It hadn't done anything to harm them or even interfere, just seemed to be watching. What it wanted he wasn't sure, until now. After seeing that font in Lou's code he was almost certain of what it could mean. Everything was starting to click into place, but he still wasn't sure. He couldn't ask or confront them now, not while they were doing this surprise for Papyrus. Later. Later when he could get Lou or even that shadow alone, he'd ask.

"Sans! Hurry up you lazy bones! If I'm right, the next minions should be a little further upstream!"

"comin' bro!" Sans looked up, following after his brother and Alphys. As he glanced at her, Alphys seemed a bit more nervous than usual. He rose a subtle brow bone. Did she know something about the wingdings too?


	33. Change of Plan

**Chapter 33: _Change of Plan_**

Papyrus knew the exact spot that the note must be refering to. He wasn't entirely sure how, but he could just feel in his bones that it was there. It was a little spot he and Lou had found once on one of their explorations through the forest.

 **• • •**

She loved wandering through the woods near their house. When he asked why, she told him that they didn't have woods where she grew up, or at least none close by. Something about a hiking place but even then you still needed to drive there and she couldn't drive. Climbing was her favorite. Up a tree or over a few rocks it didn't matter, she would climb it. The silly thing though, was that she hated rock walls. Not real ones mind you, the fake ones at gyms and other places. The ones where they strapped a rope around your waist with a harness. She hated them. Once they'd tried a gym to see what it was like, the one that Napstablook's cousin worked at. Papyrus kind of liked the rock wall, but found the harness a bit awkward to try putting on since he was all bones and it had to be tightened as far as it would go just to be considered secure by the humans working there. Lou didn't seem fond of it at all. The idea to try at the time had been fine, but as soon as she got up two steps, she insisted on coming back down.

"Is something wrong, Lou? What's wrong?" He came over as soon as he had managed to get the harness off. She didn't look like she was freaking out or scared, but the fact that she didn't get very far still made him worry.

She'd peeked up at him through her hair, having not had it cut yet, and smiled. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Are you sure?" He wasn't convinced. "Normally you love climbing on things. I have to tell you not to climb on the counter to get things all the time at home!" He looked down at the human who simply shrugged.

"I dunno, I've just never like rock walls. I'm not sure what it is, but with those harnesses on I just get this feeling like gravity is pulling me down more than it should and it feels...bad. I'm fine if I try climbing without a harness, but that's not really allowed due to safety reasons."

"If it's not allowed, then how do you know that?"

"Rock walls at the playground. They're smaller and not as steep, sure, but I've never had a problem in climbing those. I'm pretty sure it's the damn harness."

"Well...if you say so, Lou."

Papyrus hadn't pryed any more than that and left it be. They decided that they didn't need to go to a gym and would be fine doing things on their own. Besides, all of the weights were too light according to him. He couldn't help but smile when he'd seen Lou stick to the smaller weights and then stare at him in awe when he'd lifted the largest weights with ease. Somehow, he'd gotten into a competition with the more frequent body builders to see just how much he could lift. Monster or not, they couldn't get over the fact that a skeleton, with no muscle whatsoever, could lift so much so easily. He insisted to them that his friend Undyne was much stonger than he was, but that just made them even more interested. Luckily, Lou made an excuse about having to get to an appointment that pryed him away from the fangirling body builders. Papyrus then scolded her on the way home about lying about something as important as a doctor's appointment.

 **• • •**

Sure enough, as the trio approached they saw their next pretend set of foes. The area itself was very beautiful. The creek dipped into a small pond what then continued on into a creek, but this little divet it dropped into made a perfect oasis in the woods. A few large rocks made it perfect to sit and relax by the water and watch the little fish and other animals swim around. Some wild flowers grew around the edge and by the tiny waterfall the creek trickled down into so it could empty into the pond. Papyrus remembered when they found this place how Lou never wanted to leave. She told him it made her almost expect to see a fairy or something. At which point he had to ask what a fairy was.

Standing on the large rocks were the bunny and dragon guards, the ones who once patrolled Hotland. Papyrus didn't know them very well, but he knew they were good friends and possibly dating. They were always together, even after the royal guard was disbanded. He wondered what they did for a living these days. Right now the two had yet to notice them and were looking down into the clear water of the pond. The warmer spring weather had awoken the baby tadpoles and opened the wild flowers into full bloom. It was even prettier than when he and Lou had found it.

"Ahem." Papyrus gently cleared his non-existent throat, waving when the two looked up. These two seemed to have been dressed up as some form of trolls or orcs. The chest they guarded sat atop one of the rocks as they climbed down to the clearing area near the pond, motioning for the three to come over there to fight. Even they didn't want to disturb it.

There wasn't very much chatter with these two and they were able to start the battle almost instantly.

* * *

While Papyrus fended off the two ex-guards, Alphys and Sans watched from the sidelines. Sans took that chance to speak with Alphys. "so, you guys put Lou in charge of the puzzles, right? the code and the riddles?"

"Y-yeah." Alphys fidgeted, looking down at her claws. She was smart, she knew what he was trying to do. "I-it was mostly her idea t-to do this for Papyrus. S-she picked the locations t-too. I-I guess her and P-Papyrus e-explore a lot when they go on their runs."

Sans chuckled and smiled. "yeah, she does that a lot. curious little human." There was a fondness in the little lights in his eye sockets. "pretty weird too. she even managed to drag me along to explore out here one time. found a little clearing further in with a bunch of flowers. well...kinda anyway. they hadn't grown yet 'cause of the cold, but they should be blooming by now. probably looks a hell of a lot better now."

"Do you like her?"

The large skeleton flinched, glancing over at the yellow lizard monster. He was supposed to be questioning her, not the other way around! Dammit, why had he gotten distracted? Small beads of sweat formed on his skull as he tried to simply laugh it off. "well she is our roommate, Alphy. i'd be lyin' if i said i didn't like her at least a little bit." He just shrugged. "she's a sweet kid."

"You know th-that's not what I meant, S-Sans."

He sighed. _damn._ The skeleton grinned wide at her, giving a small wink as well. "don't get me wrong, she's a _**skele-ton**_ of fun, but _**tibia**_ honest with you...friends is as far as this'll go."

Alphys ignored his attempts to joke this all off. "Why's that? I'm not blind, Sans. It's obvious you care about her in some way."

"heh..." Sans closed his eyes and sighed, turning away to face the mini-battle going on with his bro. "maybe i do, but that doesn't matter."

"Why?"

"there's someone else with his eye on her, and i couldn't break his heart like that." He opened one eye socket, pinprick following his brother. "he deserves a sweet girl like her."

* * *

Papyrus panted as he finally beat the two troll minions, his sword arm hanging limp at his side. He didn't know their attacks nearly as well as the guards he knew from Snowdin, and had thus taken more "damage" than his last fights. It was by pure luck, skill learned from training with Undyne, and DETERMINATION that he won. Sans came over and "healed" him by tapping him with the ketchup bottle labeled health potion. Papyrus refused to drink a condiment, even for pretend. He walked over an retrieved his prize, the sleeves and gloves to his armor.

Now that his armor was almost complete, he couldn't help but check his reflection in the pond. It was real, actual metal armor. Silver and gold colors edging the whole thing. He couldn't help but wonder if this was what his armor would have been like if he'd actually been able to join the Royal Guard. A giddy smile grew over his face as he looked at himself in the water. Whoever's idea this was, he loved it. Prank or not, this was turning out to be a great April Fool's.

"A-alright, you ready for the next riddle? I-if my calculations are correct, this one should lead you to your helmet." Alphys pulled out the note, but looked confused. "H-huh?"

"What's wrong, Alphys?" They all gathered around her, even the minions.

"This riddle is scribbled out." She rose a brow, flipping it over. The handwritting was obviously Undyne's, and not written in wingdings. "O-oh boy..."

 _Change of plan, nerds! If the Great Papyrus wants his helmet and to save the princess, he's gonna have to come fight me himself! Unless he's too scared of course. Fuhuhuhuhu!_

Alphys rose a brow, glancing at the rest of them. This was definitely Undyne's idea, skipping right to the big boss fight. They each rolled their eyes except for Papyrus, he actually seemed excited. "A-alright then, I guess n-now we'll have to follow the clue for where Undyne is."

"You mean Undynia."

"Y-yeah." She picked up the other note at the bottom, the one she was supposed to read after they ran into Greater Dog and Lesser Dog with the helmet. She wondered what they were doing now that the plan had changed, surely Undyne wouldn't have made them go to their spot and just sit there? "Alright, a-ahem. 'Congradulations, dear knight! You have defeated the last of the evil Undynia's minions and hopefully retrieved the last piece of your armor needed to fight her. Here is your clue on where to find us. Here I stand tall, here I reside. In my arms many wonders do hide. From birds and squirrels to old wood of blue, you'll find I now have something new. A fort of old that was never completed, now is where the hero is needed. Come to find the princess fair, but a powerful foe you must beware. Good Luck.'"

"Wowie! Whoever this princess is they sure are good at rhyming!" Papyrus grinned, picking up his sword and shield. "However, that riddle was far too easy. I know exactly where to go next! Come on! To the old tree house! Nyeh heh heh!"

* * *

Undyne grinned wide as she looked down at the feed on the phone, putting it away and grabbing her helmet. "They're coming."


	34. The Boss Level

**Chapter 34:** ** _The Boss Level  
_**

Lou blinked as she looked over to the fish woman, tilting her head to one side and letting her hair flop a little. "Eh? Did they really get through the guys that fast? I thought they were with those other two." Her brow raised as the fish's grin only grew wider and more mischievous. "Undyne...what did you do?"

"Noooothing~.." Her grin only grew. "Just thought I'd speed things up a little and make 'em a little more interesting is all." As she turned to look up at the fake tower, she made a whistling noise and two dog guards came in from the trees. Lesser dog and Greater dog were both here and not at the final post Lou had given them. "What's a true boss fight without an unexpected twist?"

As Undyne looked up with a huge, devilish shark-like grin, Lou just stared down at her and the two dog guards. Her eyes went wide for a moment before tapping her feet and squealing. "Ohmigosh this is gonna be so cool! Undyne you're a genius! Plot twists are the best!"

The fish woman swelled with pride and thumped a fist over her chest, puffing it out proudly. "Heck yeah they are! And if this is for that big dweeb Papyrus then we gotta make this the best damn quest he's ever had! YEEEEEAAAAAAHHH!" She walked over to the nearest large rock and cracked it in two with one punch.

The human couldn't help but flinch a little at the rock suddenly being cracked in two. "Um...y-you're not gonna hurt Papyrus, are you? I-I mean...I-I know you wouldn't ever do that on purpose, but...um..." She fidgeted, rubbing her arm. "Just...try not to be too rough with him?"

"Don't worry, that nerd's tougher than you think." Undyne gave her a thumbs up and a wink. "I promise not to rough him up too much, but I won't go easy on him. He may be the hero but he still needs to earn the title of being a knight! If I know Papyrus, he won't fully accept it otherwise."

"Alright, I believe you on that point." She rubbed at her neck before looking down at herself. They'd put her in a purple medieval style princess dress. It wasn't poofy or covered in lace and frills, which she was grateful for. The sleeves themselves cut off just above her elbow joints before a more see-through fabric turned it into draping sleeves. The fabric itself was some form of velvet that flowed behind her. At first she had complained to the others that it was too long and only relented when they insisted that was how it was supposed to be.

However, this meant that to keep the bottom from getting dirty she would either have to hike it up as she walked or get carried. Whether for fun, to mess with her, or stay in character Undyne had chosen to carry her over her shoulder to the tree house.

Gold lining trimmed the sleeve's edges around her upper arm and along the sash tied around her waist. It had a curved v-neck showing off her clavicle and neckline with a threaded open back. She felt a little exposed with the back being open, but would be lying if she said it didn't look lovely nonetheless. It was a simple, but elegant design. She really had to hand it to them. Alphys had done the research for medieval style clothing while Toriel made most of the outfits with the help of all three of them. Creating cosplays was surprisingly good practice for making clothes.

With her hair it was difficult to do anything fancy in the way of styling it, so the group settled for a few braids made with the longer parts of her hair in front of her ears with some purple and gold ribbons mixed in. They tried to put in flowers, but Lou insisted that they just looked silly and kept taking them out.

She sighed, leaning on the railing as she watched the guard dogs go back to their hiding places and Undyne get into position. Asgore, who had been her company up there, came over to give her a light pat on the back and a comforting smile. "Everything will be alright. I should get to my place now. Will you be alright up here on your own?" When she gave him a small nod he smiled, petting her head softly. "See you soon."

Lou watched him go, looking back down to the ground below. There was a feeling of static on her shoulder, like that feeling when your arm falls asleep. She turned, looking at Gaster as he gave her an encouraging smile. "Will you stay up here with me?" He nodded, and they both looked to watch the match that would soon unfold.

* * *

Papyrus skid to a halt as they reached the tree house. When he'd last found it with Lou and Frisk the place had been rotting and falling apart. The tree itself was just fine, but the unfinished tree house sitting within it's branches had seen better days. Boards had been falling apart and what little was left of an old ladder had all but disintegrated from age. But now? Now the tree house was completely new. All fixed up and covered in a way to imitate some kind of castle tower. Standing at the base was Undyne, suited up in her old guard armor. As he moved closer to engage her, the top of the "tower" came into view and he paused.

Lou was standing behind the wooden railing in a purple gown he didn't recognize. Her hair had small braids and ribbons tied in the front to match. She didn't wear any jewelry, but he caught the hint of something orange and red around her wrist.

The skeleton couldn't help but stop and stare, lowering both his sword and shield as he gazed up at who he could only assume was the princess in this story. The princess was Lou? She was one of the last people he'd thought it could be. Not that she didn't make a good princess, but she wasn't usually the type to play the damsel in distress. At most she'd only ever joke about it and poke fun at being the one who needed saving. Now she was up in a tree house tower, dressed up as a princess, being guarded by one of their friends as they played the bad guy.

Speaking of bad guys. Papyrus shook his head to stop himself from gawking and looked to Undyne, who had a coy grin on her face. He lifted his weapons again and took a battle stance, pointing his sword in her direction. "Release the princess, Undynia! Your reign of evil ends here for I, the Great Papyrus, have come to stop you!"

Undyne's grin only grew. "Fuhuhu, stop me? I'd like to see you try!" Her hands went to her hips. "But if you want to get to the princess, you'll have to get through my guards before you can challenge me!" She snapped her fingers and the last two of the Royal Guard from Snowdin stepped out, Lesser Dog and Greater Dog. They each held up their weapons, panting with tails wagging behind them. Even when pretending to be bad guys these guys couldn't help but look happy and excited. "If you can beat these two I'll even give you your helmet back, Great Papyrus."

Papyrus held up his foam sword.

"Attack!"

 **• • •**

The fight between the three was surprisingly intense. Both dogs rushed him, Greater Dog striking first. He swung down a large squeaky hammer at Paps. If it were a real one, the force would have probably been enough to shatter part of the earth beneath their feet. Instead, it just kicked up a little dirt and made a cute squeaking noise. The sound itself took all the dog's willpower to not put the toy in his mouth and swing it around in his teeth. As Papyrus rolled to dodge, Lesser Dog brought down a toy sword of a similar squeaky design. It was blocked by Pap's shield at the last minute before pushing the dog back.

They exchanged blows and continuously dodged each others attacks or blocked them entirely. Near the end of the battle, Papyrus got an idea. After slipping behind Greater Dog, he started scratching behind his ears in the exact spot he liked the most. His tail wagged and he flopped over on top of Lesser Dog. Taking this opportunity, Papyrus lightly tapped both of them with his sword. "Nyeh heh! Your minions have been defeated, Undynia! Now, release the princess and I won't have to harm you."

Undyne was suppressing a laugh at his unorthodox win. "I said I would return your helmet, not the princess. If you want her, you'll have to defeat me!" She walked over to a chest and pulled out the helmet. It was made to fit his head like a glove and complete his guard/knight uniform. With a smirk, she tossed it in his direction. "Catch!"

Papyrus caught the helmet with one hand, staring down at it in awe.

"You gonna put it on or not?"

He looked up at them all, then cautiously placed the helmet on his head. It took a little adjusting until he had it over his head so he could see through the visor area, but from the looks everyone gave him this was all worth it. Undyne brought up her phone to take a picture of him in his full suit of armor.

"Nice, Paps. You're finally a guard. Well...almost." She grinned wide.

Wait, a guard? This whole thing was to make him a guard? He blinked from under the helmet as Undyne pulled out a fake spear.

"First, you have to beat me and save your beloved princess." Summoning some very real spears made of blue magic, she flung them at the ladder leading up to the tree house, the only way up or down.

Lou yelped from above, grabbing onto the railing as the wooden ladder was shattered. "U-Undyne! H-hey!"

"Sorry guys, I'm going a bit off script for this part." She turned back to Papyrus. "But don't worry, this is still only a fight. I'm not dumb enough to risk a real FIGHT here." The fish woman took a battle stance. "No holding back on me this time, Papyrus. You gotta give it your all!" Before he could agree or protest, she charged.

 **Author's Notes:** I know you guys were expecting the boss fight to be here, right? Sorry! You'll have to wait until Thursday! Speaking of which, things have been getting pretty busy around here. Not just with school, but I'm getting dragged around all over the place on the weekends, not giving me much time to write down these chapters. Until things let up, this'll probably be the last week I post two chapters. I'll be dropping it down to 1 chapter a week. Now, depending on how things are going, that will either be Tuesdays or Thursdays, but again I can't really say which. Thursday seems like it would be best since I can type more on Tuesdays and then do the posting on Thursdays. I dunno. Sorry I couldn't put as much content in this one. Fight scenes aren't my forte but I really wanna do my best on the boss "fight" with Undyne. After that, it's more fluff and a little more stuff involving sans and his knowledge of gaster. see you guys next time!


	35. Great

**Author's Notes:** Sorry this took so damn long guys! Life's really been biting me in the ass. I can't promise I'll be able to post a chapter every week until school ends or at least things calm down a bit, but whenever I do update it'll still be on a Tuesday or a Thursday. Sorry again and thank you so much for putting up with me. I love you guys. The fight was made with help from J. G. Rector.

 **Chapter 35:** _ **Great**_

Lou watched in awe from above as the battle unfolded on the ground below. She was still in shock from the ladder being shattered to nothing but broken shards of wood. It was her only way down safely without some kind of help. She knew that Undyne had done it for dramatic effect and all, but it still made her a little anxious. The tree was pretty big, even for an oak, and just looking down made her afraid she would break her neck. All she could do right now was stay there and watch.

Papyrus deflected the spear off of his shield as Undyne charged towards him. Even though this was supposed to all just be pretend, it didn't seem like the woman was going to hold anything back with her physical attacks. Pap brought up his sword, holding the spear to his shield and locking her in place. "I don't remember you being this rough in our training sessions. Were you holding back on me?"

"If I didn't you'd have been dust, Paps." Undyne cringed a little at her own words, but still felt they were true. If she'd gone all out on him when she first started training him while using her magic, he wouldn't be here. Back then he'd been weak and could barely summon a bone. He was a lot stronger now and here it was all about brute strength, no magic allowed. This was his best chance. A light the snarl grew on her face. "Come on, don't you wanna save your princess?"

Undyne kicked off from his shield, causing the skeleton to loosen his grip on her spear. She laughed before swinging at him, repeatedly jabbing and trying to get at his limbs.

But Papyrus was quick, blocking or dodging each blow. He had grown experienced from past training sessions with Undyne and the previous fights of the day. He was DETERMINED to win. He ducked and managed to dodge a particularly large attack, leaving her side wide open. Taking this chance, he swung his sword up and landed a hit on her non-dominant arm, forcing her to start swinging a weapon originally made for two hands with only one.

The guard captain stumbled back to avoid any other attacks, looking at the skeleton in shock. He'd never been able to do that before. Until now, any hits he'd landed were because she let him or not until much later in a battle when they got tired and mistakes were being made. This time, he'd done it all on his own and without any help. A swell of frustration and pride welled up inside of her. Proud that he was getting better, but also frustrated at herself for being hit so easily and underestimating him. Papyrus wasn't a baby bones anymore, and sometimes she forgot that. "Not bad, but you got lucky." She fibbed. "Just try and do that again."

Her attacks were faster, a bit more frenzied at the thought of defeat. It was pretend, but Undyne never liked losing.

The battle waged on for what seemed like hours. Pap's shield arm had been disabled at one point and he threw the useless item to the side as the two begin the real fight. It was like something straight out of an anime, becoming an elegant dance of the two fighters. Their attacks synchronized as the two clashed. If they had been using real weapons or even their own magic there was no doubt it would have been epic. Fr a while, the two seemed to be evenly matched and that neither side would be able to win. Until finally, Papyrus made a daring move and jumped back, charging at Undyne. Sliding down he swept her feet out from under her, causing her fall on her back.

She made a strained grunt as a bit of air was forced from her lungs. Before she could get up though, she feels the point of the plastic sword pushed into the joint between her helmet and chest-piece. Opening her eyes, Papyrus grinned under his helm and let out a soft Nyeh heh heh. "I have bested you in combat, Undynia! Yield, and surrender the princess!"

They both stood like that for a while. A gentle breeze blew through the trees, causing the cape on his armor to flow out and flap behind him. It was a little ironic considering the circumstances, but it just made the view look even better. Both panted under their helmets, out of breathe. Undyne started off with a small chuckle that slowly grew to a hearty laugh. Removing her helmet, she gave him a big grin. She couldn't be prouder of the kind skeleton. "Alright, Great Papyrus. You win this time. Now go get your girl already, you big dork."

Papyrus was glad he had a helmet on right now because his face was currently a bright shade of orange. He made his way over underneath the tree house. The ladder was definitely broken beyond repair. If they hoped to fix it they would be better off just making or getting a new one.

He sighed as he looked everything over, trying to find the best course of action. Having her jump from so high would be far too dangerous. There were no doubts he could catch her, but that was beside the point. A ladder of bones would suffice for now.

Just as he was about to summon the bones to do so, he heard a call from above.

"Papyrus! Catch!" The skeleton looked up just in time to see Lou had climbed over the balcony railing, and took a leap in his direction.

Sans was paying close attention to the fight the entire time. His brother was good, an amazing fighter, but Undyne was a known loose cannon. She was unpredictable in the best and worst of ways.

In the middle of the battle, as it seemed to be evenly matched, he glanced up at Lou in the tree house. He could see the shadow standing just behind her, watching the fight. Right now, it seemed harmless enough. It was still too blurry to tell who or what it really was, but if his assumption was correct, he was almost certain of who it could be.

A quick glance to his side told him that Alphys could see the shadow too. She glanced in his direction, and quickly looked back at the fight. She and Lou were hiding something about that shadow. He was sure of it.

• • •

Sans couldn't stop the smile on his face as his bro beat Undyne. She didn't go easy on him or let him win, and that's what made her perfect for the job. Papyrus got a definite win that no one could deny was his own hard work.

Then, Lou jumped. His soul skipped a beat as he reacted to catch her. Papyrus quickly moved underneath to catch her. It wouldn't be enough. With his metal armor and from that height she was sure to get whiplash and some rather large bruises, and that was if she was lucky. Sans' eye socket glowed blue as he brought up a hand. Her decent slowed a bit, and she landed safely in Pap's waiting arms.

He sighed, slumping down as he heard his brother ask if she was okay before promptly scolding her for reckless behavior. His brother didn't seem to notice the magic, which was good. He also hadn't caused Lou's soul to pop out, so that was good too. If that happened then they'd all have to be careful.

The large skeleton wiped some sweat from his skull before looking at a very shocked Alphys. "we ah…should probably go make sure she's okay too, huh?"

"Y-yeah, w-we should…"

"That was incredibly dangerous to do, human Lou!" Papyrus yelled, still holding the human in his arms. He was glad and lucky she wasn't hurt. She was truly a remarkable human being to walk away from such a fall with hardly a scratch. Despite his chiding, a light orange blush dusted his cheeks as he looked at her. She looked absolutely stunning in that outfit.

"I-I'm sorry, Papyrus." Lou fidgeted in his grip, fiddling her fingers as she avoided his gaze. She always did that when there was yelling nearby, especially if it was directed at her. It always made him feel bad.

"Well do not do it again! I may be great, but I will not always be there to protect you." He gave her a gentle tap on the head with his helmet before setting her down on the ground.

Sans and Alphys came over with Undyne, all congratulating Papyrus on his win, catch, and making sure their human friend was okay.

Papyrus jumped a little as Asgore stepped out from the trees along with all of their friends, including the guardsmen they'd "defeated" earlier. He looked very confused as the king came up to him with a gentle smile. "K-King Asgore? What are you doing here? A-and why are you wearing your crown?" He never wore his crown anymore.

Asgore just smiled and gave him a small wink, which only confused him even more. The goat man stood taller and cleared his throat. "Great Papyrus, I must thank you for going on such a quest to rescue the princess." He held out his hand, Lou coming over to stand beside him. She looked even smaller next to him than usual, a huge blush on her face as she tried not to show how nervous she was. She never liked standing in front of people, even friends.

"From here forward, you shall no longer be known as the Great Papyrus."

"I...won't?" Papyrus sounded disheartened. He was still confused, but to hear from the king that he wasn't going to be great anymore…

"Instead, you shall be The Great Papyrus, The Royal Knight." Asgore grinned.

His head shot up. If he wasn't wearing a helmet right now he'd have the biggest smile on his face, even bigger than Sans! And he always had a smile. In fact right now, he was looking up at Papyrus with the proudest look on his face.

"Kneel, Sir Papyrus." Lou reached behind Asgore, pulling out a sword. It wasn't real, but it wasn't made of foam like the others. It was plastic and painted to shine like the real thing.

Papyrus did as he was told, and kneeled on one leg.

"I dub thee, Sir Papyrus. Protector of the innocent and upholder of Justice." Asgore looked absolutely giddy as he tapped the side of the fake blade on each of his shoulders. "Rise."

Again, he did as he was instructed.

For a moment everyone was silent, before Asgore blushed and relaxed. "Um…I suppose now we go celebrate? I am not entirely sure what we are supposed to do now."

Lou giggled, patting the king's arm. "That's fine. The quest is over, Papyrus is now a Royal Knight, and the game is over. Now, we go to Muffet's."

"aww c'mon kid, we're not going to Grillby's?"

"No, Papyrus doesn't like the grease, remember?"

Within seconds, everything seemed to go back to normal. Everyone chatted amongst themselves like it was any other day. Each of Papyrus' friends came over to congratulate him and compliment him on a job well done.

Papyrus still seemed confused, so he walked over to Undyne, who was laughing with the dog couple. "Um…Undyne? I'm afraid I don't understand what's going on…"

Undyne dismissed the two dogs, turning to her friend. "What's to understand? You became a Royal Guard like you always wanted."

"But…the Royal Guard is disbanded."

"Yeah, but you're still part of it." She grinned.

"But…why? This doesn't make any sense. I assumed all of this was just some big prank that Sans thought up but…it's far too big and involves way too many people to be one of his. I just don't get it."

The fish woman guffawed, smacking Papyrus on the back. Normally he might have winced, but the armor made it hardly noticeable. "It's not a prank, bonehead! It was a gift! And it wasn't Sans' idea either, but he did help."

"It wasn't? Then who-"

"Lou. She heard about how you wanted to be in the Royal Guard, but never got the chance. Then she made some comment about the human equivalent to that would be a knight, even though those aren't really around anymore, but then we all thought of this. She did most of the planning though." Undyne shrugged.

"She…she did?"

"Yeah! Turned out pretty great too! Now come on, let's head to Muffet's and get something to eat!"

Papyrus followed, everyone seeming to have the same plan as the group made their way back towards town. He looked to the side, seeing Lou with Sans and Alphys as they talked about something he couldn't hear. He continued to stare, allowing the others to lead him along so he didn't run into a tree. _Wowie…she really is great._


	36. Cupcakes and Comrades

**Chapter 36:** ** _Cupcakes and Comrades_**

Sans didn't waste any time in catching up with the others. While Papyrus was distracted by the guards and the others congratulating him on his performance, he made his way to where Lou and Alphys were. Alphys was trying to speak in a more hushed tone while Lou's face had gone a little pale. _must be talking about_ _it_ _._ He came up quietly next to them.

"H-he read the c-code b-before I e-even p-pulled out your ch-cheat sheet! I-it was l-like he w-was just r-reading a r-r-regular p-paper!"

"R-really?" Lou seemed a bit concerned. "But...he said nobody..." Her face became suddenly very thoughtful, her hand coming up to place a finger to her lips while the rest wrapped around her chin. Sans recognized that look. She usually used it when trying to figure out what to draw or figure out a particularly tough issue. "Maybe...maybe that was what he meant when he said he-!"

"hey guys, mind if i **_butt_** in?" Sans gave them a light smirk, gently nudging Lou with his hip as he literally inserted himself into the conversation.

"Sans!" The human jumped, looking at him with wide eyes. She looked like she was going to jump out of her skin. It almost made him feel bad about freaking her out. Almost. The face she made was too cute. Man he loved her haircut too much. Without those overgrown bangs to hide behind he could see how those large round eyes of hers animated each expression she made. It was like watching one of Alphys' animes, but in real life and with a girl much cuter than any character on a TV screen.

"C-can we h-help you w-with something?" Alphys stuttered out. She was fiddling with her claws again, a sure sign she was nervous and possibly hiding something. Then again, she was almost always nervous, but she did have something to hide. The wingdings proved that much.

"maybe, maybe not. i'm just curious 'bout something. mind if i ask you two a few questions?" He leaned down, his grin becoming a little more ominous as his sockets darkened.

Alphys gulped. Lou glanced at her, but stood her ground. _tough kid._ She looked up at him and his harsh exterior faltered. Why was it always so hard to do this when she's there? Any other human, even Frisk, and he could get them feeling their sins crawling up their back. But with her? The most he could do was darken his sockets and add a little pressure before one little look, a sound, or a subtle movement had him back off. It used to worry him, but now it only succeeded in intriguing him and peaking his interest that much more. _no, stop. Paps likes her. she deserves a guy like him, not me._

"Okay, what do you need to ask?"

"why'd ya pick wingdings? of all the codes, the different symbols or languages you could have picked, why did you pick wingding font?" He looked down at her. She was so small next to him. Both he and Paps picked her up so easily it would almost be sad if it wasn't so adorable.

He inwardly smiled as he remembered all the times Paps would pick her up and then forget he'd been holding her and look all over the house. Sometimes he'd tease him for the hell of it, saying he hadn't seen her. Lou was a good sport, usually keeping quiet and holding back her giggling until either Papyrus finally found her or he actually got worried, then she'd drop the game and give him a gentle pat on the arm or skull, whatever she could reach. She'd give him that sweet little smile that could melt the coldest soul and wipe any tears that might have sprung to his brother's sockets. _"I'm right here, Paps. See? Please don't cry. I'm not going anywhere, okay?"_

"Well, considering it's a font and not a code, I...uh...figured it would be good to use? Plus it looks pretty confusing to the naked eye, right?" Her voice snapped him from his memories, causing the lights in his sockets to flicker back to the surface. She was being casual, nonchalant, vague. "M-most people would think it's just weird scribbles."

"unless you know what the symbols stand for." His sockets went dark again.

"Speaking of, how did you know what they meant, Sans? Last time I checked you only write in Comic Sans font. Even your texts are in Comic Sans." She crossed her arms over her chest, the long sleeves hanging down from her elbows. The ribbon Papyrus got for her was tied for anyone to see around her right wrist. Seeing it sent a pang through Sans' soul. If he'd given her a ribbon would she wear it like she did his brothers? Would she leave it in her room to collect dust? Seeing it on her all the time like that always reminded him that she was Pap's. They may not be dating and he may not have claimed her openly, but it reminded him to keep his own feelings in check. His little brother loved her and if he was the one to take something like that from him, it'd tear his soul in two.

He sighed, shrugging his shoulders and brushing off the invasive thoughts. "what can i say? i enjoy the irony." The skeleton opened an eye socket to look back at her, the pin pricks of light having returned now. "and so what if i know wingdings?"

Lou paused, looking at Alphys. They seemed to be having a silent conversation amongst each other, somehow having no need to speak to get their feelings across. Was that a girl thing? Alphys fidgeted, getting a little more nervous before nodding. Lou sighed, looking back to Sans. "What does the name Gaster mean to you?"

"L-Lou!"

"What? We can't be subtle about this anymore, Alphys! And I'm tired of trying to keep a low profile! If I do much more of this I'm going to go insane!" The human groaned, running her hands through her hair and gripping at a few clumps of it.

"But..." Alphys looked over to Sans.

His expression had dropped, that perma-grin usually plastered to his face now gone. The lights in his eyes were gone too as sweat formed along the surface of his skull. "how...how do you know that name?"

Lou looked right at him, hands releasing her brunette locks and dropping to her sides in a set of fists. She brought up one hand and jabbed a finger in his direction as a warning. "Answer the damn question!" She snapped.

Sans flinched, holding up his hands in surrender, blinking at her. He'd never seen her like that before. Or at least not with him anyway. "i..." The large skeleton sighed, closing his eyes and running his metacarpals over the surface of his skull. "Gaster...was...is, my dad. us skeletons tend to have a certain font we write and often type with, kinda runs in the family. mine was comic sans, Paps had Papyrus," he chuckled, unable to get over the irony of their names, "and my dad was wingdings. what did you think the W.D. stood for?" He glanced up to look at her, gauging hers and Alphys' reaction. "when he fell into the core not long after he finished it he kinda got...erased."

"Erased?" Lou furrowed her brow as she looked up at him. Beside her, Alphys looked down guiltily. She only knew from the notes left behind in the lab, even though she'd once been his assistant.

"yeah...after he fell the core somehow erased his entire existence from the world. nobody remembered him, not even my little brother." Sans looked up, noticing everyone slowly filling out towards town. He motioned for the girls to walk with him so they could continue their conversation and not be left behind. The perma-grin that seemed to always be plastered to his face was gone, instead turned down in a sad frown. "i was visiting the lab when it happened so i guess that could explain why i remember, i dunno. his assistants all dissapeared too, 'cept Alphys."

"M-me?!" The yellow dino monster flinched.

"yeah, you were the new intern. probably why you were able to get the job as the new royal scientist so quickly. Asgore must have had some hint in the back of his mind that you were familiar. i noticed a few people remembered a few things, but it was always broken and missing a few pieces at most. they couldn't recall the name but might remember a moment or they would have an old photo and notice there was something missing or that a figure was blotchy or blurred so much it was unrecognizable." Sans then pulled an old piece of paper from his pocket, showing them a crudely drawn picture of three smiling people, one with cracks drawn on the face. "Paps drew this when he was little, but couldn't remember who the third person was...he drew dad and thought it was just an imaginary friend..." He looked at the paper for a few moments longer before stuffing it back into his pocket, cold gaze looking back at Lou. "so tell me, **_?_** "

 **• • •**

Lou flinched as Sans' voice took a sudden threatening undertone. His sockets were void black and the way he loomed over her much smaller form made her feel even tinier. A chill ran up her spine as she tried to swallow the sudden lump in her throat. "B-because we've seen him. O-or at least I've seen him. A-Alphys still j-just sees a blurry black blob..."

The skeleton in front of her stilled completely, the terrifying from loosing some of its intensity. He still had an uncharacteristic frown, but it was more out of shock than a threat now. The lights in his sockets didn't return. "y-you what?"

"Gaster? Y-your dad, I've seen him. Talked to him...kinda. We usually sign or he makes messages pop up on my phone in wingdings." She ran her tongue over her lips in hopes of getting rid of the dryness in her mouth, but it didn't help much. "H-he's really tall, n-not quite as tall as Paps but tall. There are holes in the palms of his hands and he's a skeleton...I think. His body is kinda goopy right now. There's a crack in his skull by his eye sockets and he has lights in them like you do!" The human ran her finger over where Gaster's cracks were on her own face. "His left eye socket is a little droopy though, but I think he said that's from being in the void."

As she continued to describe is father, Sans was silent and simply stared at her. Somewhere along the way the lights that she'd dubbed his pupils came back. They were small, which usually signified fear or shock, probably the later. His stance relaxed and all he could do was stare, pinpricks of light looking right at her face. They widened slightly as she traced the cracks on her own head, one stretching up from the left eye towards the back of her head while the other connected her right eye to her mouth.

"It took a while before he finally talked to me to be honest and he still won't tell me everything, but I trust that he's not a bad guy. He's stuck Sans, and he misses you and Papyrus. He feels bad about not being there for you growing up, that he couldn't teach you things or even just be there when things got tough. N-now I don't know how you feel about all of that but I promised him I'd help him get home." His eyes now looked right into hers. Those deep brown eyes suddenly burned with intense **DETERMINATION** and courage that he'd never seen in her. She was stubborn, unable to simply leave anything be, especially if someone asked her for help or heaven forbid...she made a promise. When this girl said she would do something, she did it.

"you plan on bringing Gaster back? how?"

"W-we're building a machine th-that should restore his old form. W-we may not be able t-to restore old memories, b-but we should a-at least be able to remve him from th-the void and back t-to our r-realm of existence." Alphys adjusted her glasses, looking up at Sans. "We have the basic schematics b-but we're having trouble with the design and how it works. I-if I can figure out the physics and operation behind it, I-I can build the device no p-problem."

Sans looked down, humming as he scratched his head. "i have some old blueprints and a broken machine back in Snowdin...think we could use that as a base?"

"We?" The two glanced at each other, then back to Sans.

"you really didn't think i'd let ya bring back my old man without help, did ya?" He grinned. "come on, we can talk more after the party."

* * *

Papyrus was overjoyed, more than happy to show off his new armor to the other monsters that gathered at Muffet's. Grillby had even closed up his bar for a little while to attend and help serve drinks. Everyone was smiling and laughing, talking about how much fun the quest had been and how great it had been to do all of that play fighting. Doggo made a comment about being a bit rusty while the Dogi were too busy petting each other and praising each other for their performances. Surprisingly enough, Muffet actually had a few things set out for a discount. The only free thing was Toriel's pies, which were eaten long before they had time to properly cool.

Lou sat with her boys in an attempt to hide from all of the compliments she got on her dress.

"You were the princess? Wow, you look amazing!"

"Haha, I should have known you'd be the princess, Lou." One monster commented with a wink and a sly smile. Sans had growled at them and they quickly left.

After a while of munching on spider cookies and drinking cider, Grillby finally came over to say his hellos. He complimented Lou on her dress, kissing her hand and bowing like the gentleman he was. His actions left her cheeks red and her voice in a stutter even after he left.

Not once did the boys ever leave her side.

"Looks like the knight is protecting his princess." Undyne gave Alphys a light jab, flashing a cocky sharp toothed grin. "Sweater Scarf 1."

"S-so is the Mage!" Her girlfriend huffed, glaring up at the fish woman. "P-punchline is m-much farther ahead than Sweater Scarf!" The two glared daggers at each other for a while, sizing up the other's competition.

"Well I say it's gonna be Papyrus."

"A-and I say it's Sans!" Alphys squeaked. Her confidence had been getting better and better every day.

"You realize this means war...shipping war..." Undyne squinted at her.

"M-may the best ship win..."

 **Author's Note:** OMG I am so so sorry this took so damn long! I never meant for the hiatus to last this long! DX I can't promise to update every week, but I will say that I am working on getting the next arc set up! God, it's been so hard to get everything together. Like seriously, I suddenly got bombarded by ideas for a few other fits and I've been bouncing between those and this that whole time! - Hopefully I can start updating a little more regularly now. I won't promise that the hiatus is over, but I hope finally ending the little Knight!Papyrus mini-arc will be enough to tide you all over until next time. Up next: a shipping war between Undyne and Alphys, with Lou and the skelebros stuck in the middle!


	37. Announcement, Please Read

**ANNOUNCEMENT**

* * *

Alright guys, this is uh...well it's not a new chapter obviously, it's an announcement. I have some good news and uh...bad news.

Good news is, I'm gonna start posting Make A Move on AO3 soon as well!

The bad news is uh...It's gonna be a reboot. So...this version won't be getting anymore updates. I'll keep it up for a while so everyone can see this, but uh...there won't be any new chapters guys. Sorry.

Give me a minute to explain. As you all know I've been having writer's block for months now. Bad bad writer's block and I just realized **_why_** it's so bad. The story in my head isn't the same anymore. It's taken a huge turn from what I originally had planned and I just...well I can't write chapters for what I originally had planned and when I try to write something for this new turn it just...doesn't fit. I don't want to just cancel the story though! I still have a story for Lou and the rest of the characters of Undertale it's just...changed. Sure, I could be that asshole who does a reset for the next chapter instead but honestly that wouldn't be fair. If I do a reset in the story I want it to be for a specific reason, for a specific purpose that furthers the story in the right way, not because I'm having writer's block. No, that's a dick move and I'm not going to do that. I know a lot of you will probably be upset or mad and I feel especially bad for all of you new followers expecting the next installment only to get this flaming lump of utter bullshit dropped in your lap and I'm sorry, really I am.

What I find even more ironic is the fact that it's been a whole year since I first started posting this thing like...wow! God I feel like such a dick now...I'm sorry guys, I really am and I hope you all can forgive me for being a crappy author. If you still love this story I hope you'll come read the reboot once it's posted and I fully encourage you guys to message me with any ideas or things you want to see in the reboot. If I see anything mean or spiteful in my inbox however, just know I will be deleting it because that's rude, it's mean, and it goes completely against what Undertale is about and what it stands for and I know you're all better than that.

Again, I'm sorry about dropping it like this but I promise you, MaM hasn't died, it's just getting a fresh start. I am _**DETERMINED**_ to keep it going, even if I have to do it with this reboot. I love you guys and I honestly spologize for how long you've all had to wait. I'll try to get a chapter or two posted before school starts this Monday. If not, then I promise to get it out soon once I figure out a rhythm for this semester.

 _ **2-4-17**_

Due to multiple requests, I will be keeping the story up. This way it's still available for whoever wants to read the old story.


End file.
